Colin Runciman
Could it be that the string-comparison sort simply has less sorting to do than the int-comparison sort?
Not quite improbable, hang on while I print the profiling (with comparison in its own function): Yes, that seems to be the case, for 90K values to sort, I get 7M string comparisons and 321M integer comparisons. I'm running a new test now, with a larger number of values to sort, we'll see how it goes. Looks promising, thanks!
The default definition of sortBy uses insertion sort
I have vague recollection of the wisdom of this choice being questioned on these lists or others, and even vaguer recollection of it actually being a good choice. Comments, anybody? -kzm -- If I haven't seen further, it is by standing in the footprints of giants