On 12/19/2009 12:10 AM, Gregory Ewing wrote:
Terry Reedy wrote:
On the other hand, Python indexes are a form of random access
iterator, the top of the hierarchy.
The term "random access iterator" seems oxymoronic to
me. Iteration is all about operating on things in
sequence. If you're accessing elements arbitrarily,
then you're not iterating.
Python, traditionally, only came with one mutable builtin sequence
type, so the sort function was made a method of that type.
Also it probably operates rather more efficiently
than a generic one would, as it doesn't have to go
through a general mechanism to access elements, but
can take advantage of its knowledge of the internal
structure of a list.
I presume there is no array sort because it is O(n) to copy array to
list and back again with tolist and fromlist methods.
Anyone needed space-saving of in place in array can write array sort
with generic quicksort or whatever is appropriate to peculiarities of
specific data.
tjr
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