[Python-Dev] RE: companies data for sorting comparisons

[Fredrik Lundh]

tim wrote:    

> A larger lesson:  even if Python gets a stable sort and advertises stability
> (we don't have to guarantee it even if it's there)

if we guarantee it, all python implementors must provide one.

how hard is it to implement a reasonably good stable sort from
scratch?

I can think of lots of really stupid ways to do it on top of existing
sort code, which might be a reason to provide two different sort
methods: sort (fast) and stablesort (guaranteed, but maybe not
as fast as sort).  in CPython, both names can map to timsort.

(shouldn't you be writing a paper on this, btw?  or start a sort
blog ;-)

</F>