See the Python (imperative) version, and the Java version.

Now, this is totally unfair to Java - this is exactly the sort of job that you shouldn't use it for. What it does demonstrate is the importance if picking the right tool for the job.

As to the functional version of the Python script, well, it looks ghastly to me. But that's probably more to do with the fact that I'm not used to fuctional programming than anything else - I'm sure that Alex's code is fine, and that a functional style is appropriate to the task. But if you haven't grokked functional programming yet, it just looks wrong.