Guido grants a Christmas wish:
sorted() becomes a regular function instead of a classmethod.
diff --git a/Doc/lib/libstdtypes.tex b/Doc/lib/libstdtypes.tex
index 8b6b194..6e38222 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libstdtypes.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libstdtypes.tex
@@ -988,9 +988,6 @@
\lineiii{\var{s}.sort(\optional{\var{cmp}=None\optional{, \var{key}=None
\optional{, \var{reverse}=False}}})}
{sort the items of \var{s} in place}{(7), (8), (9), (10)}
- \lineiii{\var{s}.sorted(\var{iterable}\optional{, \var{cmp}=None\optional{, \var{key}=None
- \optional{, \var{reverse}=False}}})}
- {return a new sorted list from the items in \var{iterable}}{(8), (9), (11)}
\end{tableiii}
\indexiv{operations on}{mutable}{sequence}{types}
\indexiii{operations on}{sequence}{types}
@@ -1040,8 +1037,8 @@
list. To remind you that they operate by side effect, they don't return
the sorted or reversed list.
-\item[(8)] The \method{sort()} and \method{sorted()} methods take optional
- arguments for controlling the comparisons.
+\item[(8)] The \method{sort()} method takes optional arguments for
+ controlling the comparisions.
\var{cmp} specifies a custom comparison function of two arguments
(list items) which should return a negative, zero or positive number
@@ -1068,8 +1065,7 @@
\versionchanged[Support for \var{key} and \var{reverse} was added]{2.4}
\item[(9)] Starting with Python 2.3, the \method{sort()} method is
- guaranteed to be stable. Starting with Python 2.4, the \method{sorted()}
- method is also guaranteed to be stable. A sort is stable if it does not
+ guaranteed to be stable. A sort is stable if it guarantees not to
change the relative order of elements that compare equal --- this is
helpful for sorting in multiple passes (for example, sort by
department, then by salary grade).
@@ -1079,9 +1075,6 @@
of Python 2.3 makes the list appear empty for the duration, and raises
\exception{ValueError} if it can detect that the list has been
mutated during a sort.
-
-\item[(11)] \method{sorted()} is a class method that returns a new list.
- \versionadded{2.4}
\end{description}
\subsection{Set Types \label{types-set}}