Very basic, sorting a list ???

[Stef Mientki]

Hrvoje Niksic wrote:
> Stef Mientki <S.Mientki-nospam at mailbox.kun.nl> writes:
> 
>> although I find it rather non-intuitive.
>> I didn't expect a copy, but a reference to itself wouldn't be asked
>> too much ?
> 
> If you didn't expect a copy, why rely on the return value?  You could
> simply continue using the sorted list.  Your first post says "I'm
> trying to sort a list, using the same list at the commandline works,
> but in a program it doesn't."
> 
>> Why does it return None, instead of the sorted object itself ?
>> I guess it would cost almost exactly the same processing power.
> 
> It's not about processing power at all, it's about clarity.  Code that
> says:
> 
> foo = [5, 2, 3, 1]
> bar = foo.sort()
> 
> might run into a nasty surprise upon finding that both foo and bar
> point to the same (sorted) list.  Returning None ensures that the
> error is detected as early as possible.
Aha, that might be a valid reasoning.

thanks,
Stef Mientki