In <7x1vln2bzh....@ruckus.brouhaha.com> Paul Rubin <http://phr...@nospam.invalid> writes:
>kj <no.em...@please.post> writes: >> Is there a real-life sorting task that requires (or is far more >> efficient with) cmp and can't be easily achieved with key and >> reverse? >Yes, think of sorting tree structures where you have to recursively >compare them til you find an unequal pair of nodes. To sort with >key=... you have to wrap a class instance around each tree, with >special comparison methods. Blecch. Good point. This example convinces me that it was a bad idea to get rid of cmp in Python 3, even if situations like this one are rare. With the cmp parameter as an option, coding this type of sort was accessible even to those with a rudementary knowledge of Python. Now one needs to be pretty clever and pretty skilled with Python to figure this one out... Granted, anyone who needs to perform such sorts is probably smart enough to handle the required solution, but not necessarily very proficient with Python. Besides, why make something that was relatively straightforward before become an exercise in cleverness? I wonder what was gained by eliminating the cmp option... kj -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
