Ben Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Peter Bengtsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > My poor understanding is that the difference between `sorted(somelist, > > key=lambda x:...)` and `somelist.sort(lambda x,y...)` is that one > > returns a new list and the other sorts in-place. > > Yes. > > > Does that mean that .sort() is more efficient and should be favored > > when you can (i.e. when you don't mind changing the listish object)? > > No, it means you should choose the version that expresses what you > actually want to do. > > Efficiency of the programmers ??? including the unknown number of > programmers who will have to read the code after you write it ??? is in > many cases a much more important criterion than efficiency of the CPU. > People's time continues to be much more expensive than computer time, > after all.
Good advice with one caveat: sorted() was only introduced in python 2.4 so if your code must run on earlier versions then use list.sort() -- Nick Craig-Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- http://www.craig-wood.com/nick -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
