The Function memoize looks like a python decorator to me(http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0318/ http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0318/ ), IMHO, code can be

The Function memoize looks like a python decorator to me(http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0318/ http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0318/ ), IMHO, code can be more pythonic and still minimalistic if we declare fib this way using decorators @memoize fib(n) also we don't need to use the line : fib = memoize(fib) after this change I don't know though if decorators were not used on purpose.. Update: I have commented updated code on recipe's page - http://code.activestate.com/recipes/577219-minimalistic-memoization/?c=10628#c1 http://code.activestate.com/recipes/577219-minimalistic-memo...