How to make a list of digits from a number

digits.py

#Aritmetic way to extract digits from a number
#It should work in most programming languages

x = 78449

digit = []
for k in range(4, -1, -1):
    digit.append( x / 10**k )
    x = x % 10**k
    
#After completing the loop, x no longer stores the 
#original value, but 0. Be warned!

print digits


#The python way: 
#It makes the hard easy and the imposible posible!

x = 78449
digits = [int(c) for c in str(x)]
print digitos