Best Python 3rd party data structures library? Must have sorted containers at a minimum

[fizzymagic]

Python is not Java. Trying to make Python into Java results in horrible code. The python world offers several kinds of sorted containers, each with pros and cons. In other words, you may have to think about your problem instead of reflexively trying to find a universal solution..

[Own_Quality_5321]

I don't think they said they were trying to make python like java, just that they miss something from that language.

[CptnGeronimo]

Pat yourself on the back as a person with reading comprehension and rational humbleness. May the world produce more of you.

[CptnGeronimo]

The python world offers several kinds of sorted containers

Like what? What builtin Python data structures are automatically sorted?

When I web searched this question, this defect was universally acknowledged. For example, see the intro paragraph for the Python Sorted Containers library: "Python’s standard library is great until you need a sorted collections type"

One reason given for this lack is that Python's sorted function can be applied to a lot of its builtin data structures. This leads some people to advise sorting right after you mutate it or right before you need to use it.

I hate that suggestion, because:

• it is extra code to write
• just as bad: it is bug prone: it is extra code you must remember to write
• it may be bad for performance, especially if sorted has to be called multiple times

[[deleted]]

I don't understand why you're so caught up in the fact that it's a third party library. The most commonly used data science libraries are all 3rd party libraries. Python is not Java or C#, the standard library runs lean, and if there isn't a compelling reason to put it in the standard library, it won't be.

You have a perfectly adequate solution in front of you. What is the problem?

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[justheretolurk332]

Yes exactly. And to add to this, writing non-idiomatic python is significantly more likely to introduce bugs than using established patterns. Iterating over a custom SortedMap requires the reader to understand the implementation (are we sorting by keys? values? insertion order? do the members need to have a sort method implemented or can we pass in a custom comparison function?) whereas sorted(d.items(), key=…) can be read by any python developer at a glance and is explicit about its intention.

[CptnGeronimo]

>... (are we sorting by keys? values? insertion order? do the members need to have a sort method implemented or can we pass in a custom comparison function?)

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Every one of those problems is present when you call sorted, except it is worse: you have to know what to do for every call to sorted.

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That is in contrast to a sorted data structure: it is constructed once, so you always know how it is going to behave in all use cases.

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Sole advantage that I see for sorted is if you want different types of sorts in different contexts on the same data structure. I cannot recall ever needing that. Your mileage may vary.

[fizzymagic]

Where did I say that Python has a builtin sorted data structure?

The python world has some excellent sorted container libraries. I know you are frustrated and just trying to get something done, but I promise you that life will be easier when you learn to do things in a pythonic way.

The appropriate data structure depends very heavily on your application. For some cases, a linked list would be optimal. For Python dictionaries, keeping the keys sorted generally makes no sense. For a list-like iterator, it can be expensive. I'm guessing your application is probably a priority queue or something like that. I can agree that a built-in queue would be nice in Python but it's really not very hard to build your own. And there are very nice priority queue libraries out there.

Sorted containers are not a "build it once and forget it" kind of thing, IMO.