Keep a file in memory an any cost

[Tim]

Tim:
>> Tim, off to bubble-sort the junk piling up on my desk...

Joe Zeff:
> You do know, don't you, that the most succinct way to write a 
> bubble-sort is to use recursion?  I think I still have the source code 
> sitting around from the time I did it in C.  If you want, let me know 
> off-list and I'll copy it into my reply.

I'd like to see the code that tells my hands to pick up the things on my
desk, and sort them into the right order, piece by piece.  ;-)  (This
invoice goes in front of that invoice, that note goes behind that note.)

Back when I worked in a library, one of our fears was that some
miscreant would tip out the card file index, and we'd have to spend an
unimaginable amount of time putting the cards back in order.

Essentially, that's a bubble sort.  Sift through the stack, arrange the
order of the cards in your hand.  Keep going until you've done the lot.

These days, it'd be quicker to reprint them in the right order, and
stack them in the boxes.  But they were all hand typed.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686

Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.  I
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