Simplifying Sofeng’s Python Recursion Example

In Python recursion example to navigate tree data, Sofeng presents this solution…

def outer(data):
    class Namespace: pass
    ns = Namespace()
    ns.level = 1

    def inner(data):
        print ' ' * ns.level + data['text']
        if data['count'] > 0:
            ns.level += 1
            for kid in data['kids']:
                inner(kid)
            ns.level -= 1

    inner(data)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    outer(data)

…for traversing a dictionary of the form:

data = {'count': 2,
        'text': '1',
        'kids': [{'count': 3,
                  'text': '1.1',
                  'kids': [{'count': 1,
                            'text': '1.1.1',
                            'kids': [{'count':0,
                                      'text': '1.1.1.1',
                                      'kids': []}]},
...
}

Since his blog doesn’t seem to support code formatting in the comments, I’m repeating my comment here:

You actually don’t need the ‘count’ keys in the data dictionary, nor do you need the “if data['count'] > 0:” block. The code can be simplified even further by using a closure instead of the ‘Namespace’ class, eliminating the need for two (“outer” & “inner”) routines:

def traverse(data):
    print ' ' * traverse.level + data['text']
    for kid in data['kids']:
        traverse.level += 1
        traverse(kid)
        traverse.level -= 1

if __name__ == '__main__':
    traverse.level = 1
    traverse(data)