> Thomas Heller wrote: >> Does Python 3 have no way anymore to sort with a comparison function? >> >> Both [].sort() and sorted() seem to accept only 'key' and 'reverse' >> arguments, >> the 'cmp' argument seems to be gone. Can that be?
Terry Reedy schrieb: > Yes. When this was discussed, no one could come up with an actual use > case in which the compare function was not based on a key function. > Calling the key function n times has to be faster than calling a compare > function n to O(nlogn) times with 2 keys computed for each call. The > main counter argument would be if there is no room in memory for the > shadow array of key,index pairs. And that can be at least sometimes > handled by putting the original on disk and sorting an overt key,index > array. Or by using a database. > [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb: > Yes, that's a wonderful thing, because from the code I see around > 99.9% of people see the cmp and just use it, totally ignoring the > presence of the 'key' argument, that allows better and shorter > solutions of the sorting problem. So removing the cmp is the only way > to rub the nose of programmers on the right solution, and it goes well > with the Python "There should be one-- and preferably only one -- > obvious way to do it.". Thanks, I got it now. Thomas -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list