{"id":27731,"date":"2026-06-03T04:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/?sharp_quiz=python-interview-sorting-key-functions-timsort-pitfall"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:27:28","slug":"python-interview-sorting-key-functions-timsort-pitfall","status":"publish","type":"sharp_quiz","link":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/?sharp_quiz=python-interview-sorting-key-functions-timsort-pitfall","title":{"rendered":"Python: Which practice avoids a common mistake with Sorting, Key Functions, and Timsort?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Question<\/h2>\n<p>Which practice avoids a common mistake with Sorting, Key Functions, and Timsort?<\/p>\n<ol type=\"A\">\n<li>Ignore the Sorting, Key Functions, and Timsort issue and rely on team discipline instead of clearer APIs or invariants.<\/li>\n<li>Silence the Sorting, Key Functions, and Timsort problem by using broad catches, hidden globals, or extra shared mutable state.<\/li>\n<li>Do not sort repeatedly inside loops or ignore stability when multiple ordering passes or group-sensitive behavior matter.<\/li>\n<li>Prefer the version of Sorting, Key Functions, and Timsort that makes behavior less predictable as long as the code still runs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Hint<\/h2>\n<p>Look for the option that protects correctness instead of hiding the problem.<\/p>\n<h2>Answer and rationale<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Correct answer:<\/strong> C. Do not sort repeatedly inside loops or ignore stability when multiple ordering passes or group-sensitive behavior matter.<\/p>\n<p>Do not sort repeatedly inside loops or ignore stability when multiple ordering passes or group-sensitive behavior matter. This is a common failure mode in real Python code and a frequent interview follow-up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Track:<\/strong> Python<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which practice avoids a common mistake with Sorting, Key Functions, and Timsort?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","topic":[88,109,89],"difficulty":[7],"class_list":["post-27731","sharp_quiz","type-sharp_quiz","status-publish","hentry","topic-python","topic-python-core-sorting-key-functions-and-timsort","topic-python-interview-questions","difficulty-medium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sharp_quiz\/27731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sharp_quiz"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sharp_quiz"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftopic&post=27731"},{"taxonomy":"difficulty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharpinterview.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdifficulty&post=27731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}