checkioexample.py

def doituntildone(data, letter, number, answer):
    data = int(data)
    if data >= number:
        answer += letter
        data = data - number
        print('attempting recursion ' + str([data, letter, number, answer]))
        # I was incorrectly assuming the following line would work:
        # doituntildone(str(data), letter, number, answer)
        data, answer = doituntildone(str(data), letter, number, answer)
    # print([data, answer])
    print('returning data ' + str([data, answer]))
    return [str(data), str(answer)]