Python 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Dec 23 2008, 15:10:54) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] on
win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> def change (d):
...   d = {1:2}
...
>>> d = {}
>>> change (d)
>>> print d
{}
>>> 
>>> from linear1 import linear
>>> linear (1000000)
0.68898849987068367
>>> linear (1000000)
0.67677193415093306
>>> linear (2000000)
1.3315378896781525
>>> linear (3000000)
1.9369766629174947
>>> linear (6000000)
3.914094551272413
>>> from linear2 import linear
>>> linear (1000000)
1.2270071274336942
>>> linear (2000000)
2.4524869931853175
>>> linear (3000000)
3.6324605946144288
>>> linear (4000000)
4.8415881486115211
>>> from quadratic import quadratic
>>> quadratic (1000000)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "quadratic.py", line 8, in quadratic
    lst[i] = lst[i] + j
KeyboardInterrupt
# Dan crashes his Python shell!

Python 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Dec 23 2008, 15:10:54) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] on
win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from quadratic import quadratic
>>> quadratic (1000)
0.64411839359072298
>>> quadratic (2000)
2.452644753066
>>> quadratic (3000)
5.3921637625632286
>>> quadratic (4000)
9.6910447073541803
>>> quadratic (5000)
15.574175346898528
>>> quadratic (10000)
61.64300166006052
>>> quadratic (1000)
0.64813850077285906
>>> a = 1
>>> b = 2
>>> tmp = a
>>> a = b
>>> b = tmp
>>> a
2
>>> b
1
>>> a = 1
>>> b = 2
>>> a, b = b, a
>>> a
2
>>> b
1
>>>