python implementation to reverse a string

reverse.py

'''
@desc: 	An algorithm to reverse a list of characters.
@param: A list of characters.
'''
def reverse_algorithm(my_string):
	length_of_string, i, reversed_string = len(my_string), 0, []
	while i < length_of_string:
		reversed_string.append(my_string[length_of_string-1-i])
		i += 1
	return reversed_string

'''
@param: the string to be reversed
@param: flag to indicate weither to use the inbuilt reverse 
		mechanism or not.
'''
def reverse_string(my_string, built_in_mechanism=False):
	# Convert the string to a list for easy of manipulation
	my_string = list(my_string)
	if built_in_mechanism is True:
		return my_string[::-1]
	else:
		return reverse_algorithm(my_string)

print reverse_string('reverseme', False)