how to think like a computer scientist

[Brian van den Broek]

john boy said unto the world upon 2005-11-11 22:25:
> Question for the following program: sec 5.5
>  
> def factorial (n):
>    if n == 0:
>       return 1
>    else:
>       recurse = factorial (n-1)
>       result = n * recurse
>       return result
>  
> How come whenever I state the function with "n" given a value it prints no results in the interpreter for EX:

<snip>


>  
> So instead I have to give a "print" command to make the result appear in the interpreter 
> for EX:

<snip>

> Is this correct....should I have to give a print command??


Hey,

I assume you mean when you run it as a script; when I run it as the 
interactive prompt, I get output:

IDLE 1.1.2
 >>> def factorial (n):
	if n == 0:
	      return 1
         else:
	    recurse = factorial (n-1)
	    result = n * recurse
	    return result

 >>> factorial(3)
6

In general, it would be bad if the interpreter decided to print 
everything you asked it to compute. The function returns the result of 
the factorial(n) call, and it is up to your code to decide what to do 
with it. If the only use is to print it, then

print factorial(3)

might be what you want. But it is also possible you'd want to store 
the result for further computation, and would find the print an 
unwanted 'feature'. So,

important_for_later = factorial(some_num)

Best,

Brian vdB