On 6/20/07, Gabriel Genellina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's not true that the sort must complete (or that the whole file must > > be read for that matter), Python has cool generators which makes the > > above possible. > > That's not possible, the input must be read completely before sorted() can > output anything. Suppose the minimum element is at the end - until you > read it, you can't output the very first sorted element.
Doh! Yes of course. I always thought that sorted() returned a generator. Since Python's sort is based on merge sort, using a generator approach it should at least be theoretically possible to begin emitting the items before the sort operation completes. -- mvh Björn -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
