sorting-choice

Included with Lifetime

$97 forever

Choose the right sorting approach using Python's built-in Timsort, heapq, or custom strategies. Use when sorting arrays, finding top-k elements, or ordering by multiple keys.

General

What this skill does


## When to use

Python's built-in sorted()/list.sort() is Timsort — O(n log n), stable, and almost always the right choice.

## Rules

- Use key= for custom ordering
- For top-k elements, use heapq.nlargest/nsmallest (O(n log k)) instead of full sort
- For finding just the kth element, consider quickselect or statistics.median
- Counting sort / radix sort help only when values are bounded integers
- When the problem says "sort by X then by Y," use a tuple key: key=lambda x: (x.a, x.b)
- For reverse on one field only, negate it or use functools.cmp_to_key
- ALWAYS prefer built-in sort — it's optimized and stable
- NEVER implement your own sort algorithm unless the problem requires it

## Complexity

Timsort: O(n log n). heapq.nlargest/nsmallest: O(n log k).

## Example

"Top 3 scores" → `heapq.nlargest(3, scores)` in O(n log 3). "Sort by name then age" → `sorted(items, key=lambda x: (x.name, x.age))`.

Files: 1

Size: 1.4 KB

Complexity: 10/100

Category: General

Source: https://github.com/knoopx/pi/tree/main/agent/skills/knowledge/sorting-choice

Related in General

modeling-omnistudio-epc-catalog

Included

Salesforce Industries CME EPC product-modeling skill for Product2-based catalog creation. Use when creating EPC products, configuring product attributes, building offer bundles with Product Child Items, or reviewing EPC DataPack JSON metadata for product catalog changes. TRIGGER when: user creates or updates Product2 EPC records, AttributeAssignment payloads, AttributeMetadata/AttributeDefaultValues, Offer bundles, or ProductChildItem relationships. DO NOT TRIGGER when: designing OmniScripts/FlexCards/Integration Procedures (use building-omnistudio-omniscript, building-omnistudio-flexcard, or building-omnistudio-integration-procedure), implementing Apex business logic (use generating-apex), or troubleshooting deployment pipelines (use deploying-metadata).

Generalscripts

relationship-science-coach

Included

Use this skill for direct, practical adult relationship coaching: couples conflict, repair, trust, marriage, dating, flirting, attachment patterns, emotional connection, sex, desire differences, eroticism, kink negotiation, affection, love languages, breakups, and long-term passion. Draw on Gottman, EFT and Hold Me Tight, attachment science, modern sex research, Perel, Nagoski, Kerner, Schnarch, Love and Stosny, and flexible love-language tools. Be concrete and low-hedge. Redirect only for imminent danger, abuse, coercive control, minors, non-consent, self-harm, stalking, or medical/legal/psychiatric decisions.

Generalscripts

building-sf-integrations

Included

Salesforce integration architecture and runtime plumbing with 120-point scoring. Use this skill to set up Named Credentials, External Credentials, External Services, REST/SOAP callout patterns, Platform Events, and Change Data Capture. TRIGGER when: user sets up Named Credentials, External Services, REST/SOAP callouts, Platform Events, CDC, or touches .namedCredential-meta.xml files. DO NOT TRIGGER when: Connected App/OAuth config (use configuring-connected-apps), Apex-only logic (use generating-apex), or data import/export (use handling-sf-data).

Generalscripts

venue-templates

Included

Access comprehensive LaTeX templates, formatting requirements, and submission guidelines for major scientific publication venues (Nature, Science, PLOS, IEEE, ACM), academic conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, CHI), research posters, and grant proposals (NSF, NIH, DOE, DARPA). This skill should be used when preparing manuscripts for journal submission, conference papers, research posters, or grant proposals and need venue-specific formatting requirements and templates.

Generalscripts

let-fate-decide

Included

Draws the 12 Houses of the Zodiac Tarot spread to inject entropy into planning when prompts are vague, ambiguous, or casually delegated. Interprets the spread to guide next steps. Use when the user says 'let fate decide', 'YOLO', 'whatever', 'idk', or other nonchalant phrases, makes Yu-Gi-Oh references, or when you are about to arbitrarily pick between multiple reasonable approaches. Prefer over ask-questions-if-underspecified when the user's tone is casual or playful rather than precision-seeking.

Generalscripts

net-ops

Included

Cross-platform network troubleshooting (Windows, macOS, Linux) via local or remote shell. Use for: DNS broken, can't resolve hostnames, nslookup/dig works but apps fail, NRPT, WFP, scutil, /etc/resolver, systemd-resolved, /etc/resolv.conf, NetworkManager, VPN DNS leak residue (ProtonVPN/Mullvad/WireGuard/AnyConnect), AV/firewall blocking DNS or DoH, Tailscale DNS interaction, intermittent connectivity, remote diagnostics over SSH.

Generalscripts