self modifying code

When young I was warned repeatedly by more knowledgeable folk that self modifying code was dangerous.

Is the following idiom dangerous or unpythonic?

def func(a):
global func, data
data = somethingcomplexandcostly()
def func(a):
return simple(data,a)
return func(a)

It could be replaced by

data = somethingcomplexandcostly()
def func(a):
return simple(data,a)

but this always calculates data.
--
Robin Becker
.

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