>>> from functools import partial >>> Y = lambda f: partial(f, f) >>> fib = lambda f, n: None if n < 0 else (0 if n == 0 else (1 if n == 1 else f(f, n-1) + f(f, n-2))) >>> [ Y(fib)(i) for i in range(-2, 10) ] [None, None, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34]