[Python-bugs-list] list.sort() with sort function (PR#131)

[Sam Rushing]

Tim Peters writes:
 > Not a bug.  Amazingly enough, see thread "Python 1.5.2 list sorting bug"
 > from just a couple weeks ago (on comp.lang.python) for detailed discussion.

I guess what turned off my search-usenet instincts is that I *knew*
that it used to work that way...  I even passed the example on to
others to defend against temporary insanity.

 > If the intent of the above was to sort in reverse order,
 > 
 > >>> l.sort(lambda a, b: cmp(b, a))
 > >>> l
 > [342, 23, 17]
 > >>>
 > 
 > or, quicker,
 > 
 > >>> l.sort()
 > >>> l.reverse()
 > >>> l
 > [342, 23, 17]
 > >>>

This is what I usually do - I pull the sort key to the front of a
tuple and use sort().  In this case I had a small amount of data,
and I was sorting on a field buried two tuples deep.  I trivialized
the example to expose the 'bug' in its simplest form.

Sorry for the false alarm!  But I learn that all sorts of interesting
people are hiding behind the faceless python bug-reporting system. 8^)

-Sam