Is you wanted to output string:

>>> list(str(1234))
['1', '2', '3', '4']

If you want to output integers:

>>> map(int, str(1234))
[1, 2, 3, 4]

If you want to use no prebuilt methods (output int)

>>> [int(i) for i in str(1234)]

[1, 2, 3, 4]