[Python-ideas] __sort__ special member

[David Townshend]

I was quite surprised to find that nobody seems to have suggested this
before, because it seems like an obvious idea. Basically, add a special
method __sort__ which, if specified, is used when sorted() is called. I can
think of two immediate use cases:

1. When an object wants sorted() to return something other than a list,
e.g. dict.__sort__ could return an OrderedDict.
2. When there is a more efficient method of sorting a specific sequence.
E.g. sorting a range object should be trivial.

Is there some obvious reason why nobody has suggested this before?  Is it
worth pursuing?

David.
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