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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-13T14:28:44+00:00

I recently stumbled across this article which describes how to code FizzBuzz using only

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I recently stumbled across this article which describes how to code FizzBuzz using only Procs in Ruby, and since I was bored, thought it would be neat to try and implement the same thing in Python using lambdas.

I got to the section where you create numbers using nested functions, and wrote the following Python script:

#!/usr/bin/env python

zero  = lambda p : (lambda x: x)
one   = lambda p : (lambda x: p(x))
two   = lambda p : (lambda x: p(p(x)))
three = lambda p : (lambda x: p(p(p(x))))
five  = lambda p: (lambda x: p(p(p(p(p(x))))))

fifteen = lambda p : (lambda x: p(p(p(p(p( \
                                p(p(p(p(p( \
                                p(p(p(p(p(x))))))))))))))))


hundred = lambda p: (lambda x: p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p( \
                               p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(p(x)))))))))))))))))))))))))))) \
                                                     ))))))))))))))))))))))))))) \
                                                     ))))))))))))))))))))))))))) \
                                                     )))))))))))))))))))

def to_int(func):
    return func(lambda n: n + 1)(0)

print to_int(zero)
print to_int(one)
print to_int(two)
print to_int(three)
print to_int(five)
print to_int(fifteen)
print to_int(hundred)

Numbers zero through fifteen works fine, but if I try creating the number 100, the file won’t run due to the following error:

s_push: parser stack overflow
MemoryError

I have to comment it out in order for the file to run at all.

This sort of sucks — is there any way around this limitation so that I can arbitrarily nest lambdas and function calls without Python falling over and running out of memory?

Or alternatively, is there some kind of lambda-calculus trick I can use to express the number 100 without having so many nested functions?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    express the number 100 without having so many nested functions?

    here you go:

    >>> test = lambda f: f(lambda x: x + 1)(0)
>>> z = lambda f: lambda x: x
>>> test(z)
0
>>> succ = lambda n: lambda f: lambda x: f(n(f)(x))
>>> _1 = succ(z)
>>> test(_1)
1
>>> _2 = succ(_1)
>>> test(_2)
2
>>> plus = lambda m: lambda n: lambda f: lambda x: m(f)(n(f)(x))
>>> _3 = plus(_1)(_2)
>>> test(_3)
3
>>> mult = lambda m: lambda n: lambda f: lambda x: m(n(f))(x)
>>> _6 = mult(_2)(_3)
>>> test(_6)
6
>>> _5 = plus(_2)(_3)
>>> _25 = mult(_5)(_5)
>>> _4 = plus(_2)(_2)
>>> _100 = mult(_25)(_4)
>>> test(_100)
100
>>>
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