"""
 maximum.py

 Problem 4, chapter 13 Zelle's book
 Write and test a recursive function
 to find the maximum value in a list.
 Hint:
   The max is the larger of the 1st and the rest.

 $ python maximum.py 
  DEBUG comparing 22 with max([16])
  DEBUG comparing 10 with max([22, 16])
  DEBUG comparing 2 with max([10, 22, 16])
  DEBUG comparing 5 with max([2, 10, 22, 16])
  DEBUG comparing 3 with max([5, 2, 10, 22, 16])
 max of [3, 5, 2, 10, 22, 16] is 22
   
"""

def maximumBruteForce(numbers):
    biggest = -1000000   # smaller than our numbers
    for n in number:
        if n > biggest:
            biggest = n
    return biggest

def maximumRecursive(numbers):
    if len(numbers) == 1:
        return numbers[0]
    else:
        a = numbers[0]
        b = maximumRecursive(numbers[1:])
        print " DEBUG comparing {} with max({})".format(
            a, numbers[1:])
        if a > b:
            return a
        else:
            return b

digits = [3, 5, 2, 10, 22, 16]
answer = maximumRecursive(digits)
print "max of {} is {}".format(digits, answer)