Re: Smart sorting algorithm ?

[Wes Groleau <wesgroleau@despammed.com>]

> Anyone know anything about a sorting algorithm
> that includes the ability to infer the answer
> to a comparison from comparisons already done?

I solved this part.  Wrote an "<" that
first checks a 2D lookup table.  If the 
answer is "unknown" it does the comparison,
then updates as many cells in the table as
possible.  Once you compare A & B, you may
be able to determine (and record) the
order of A,C based on B,C or vice versa.

> The reason I'm asking is that I have a situation
> where deciding the order of two items is very slow.

Since the actual comparison was the bottleneck,
the choice of sorting algorithms doesn't matter
any more.

-- 
Wes Groleau
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wgroleau