$10K coding deathmatch

[Dan Stovall]

A little bit about python performance:

http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonSpeed/
and
http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonSpeed/PerformanceTips

The section on loops in the Performance Tips describes why map,
reduce, and list comprehensions are faster than for loops in python.
I mistakenly applied the same principle to lambda which is why I
stated I thought anonymous functions were faster in python than
defined functions.

Dan