[SciPy-dev] Sorting speed

[Fernando Perez]

Travis Oliphant wrote:

> There are many sorting algorithms in numarray.  I'm not sure which one 
> is being used regularly, but I'd like to see them brought over, though, 
> which shouldn't be too big of a deal and is on the radar.  

It may be worth noting that the sort code in python's core, for 
somelist.sort(), is to my understanding, state of the art.  Tim Peters a while 
ago (py2.2, I think) brought the full weight of his considerable algorithmic 
talent to bear on this problem, as well as some recent academic results.  I 
don't know how this compares to what numarray uses, but it may be worth 
investigating/copying.

If Tim's work is as good as it is claimed to be (and I have much respect for 
his claims), it might be a good idea to use a stripped version of his code 
which doesn't have to deal with the generalities of python lists (and all the 
per-item typechecking needed there).

Just an idea...

Best,


f