[Python-ideas] Make max() stable

[Devin Jeanpierre]

On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 5:35 PM, Ned Batchelder <ned at nedbatchelder.com> wrote:
> Is there an example of an actual problem that stability of min and max would
> make easier to solve?

In a language like C++, you if min and max had the property specified
by the OP, you might do:

x = min(a, b);
y = max(a, b);

And then x is the smallest, and y is the other one, and it's simple and
easy and less code than an if statement. I suspect this is where the
desire comes from.

In Python, of course, you do x, y = sorted([a, b])

-- Devin