This touches on an interesting topic: how robust implementations of most algorithms go well beyond what you&#x27;re taught in an algorithms course. There are tons of optimizations that matter when dealing with real world data that don&#x27;t matter for algorithmic complexity.<p>Two links on the subject:<p>Bentley and McIlroy on Engineering a Sort Function: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cs.fit.edu&#x2F;~pkc&#x2F;classes&#x2F;writing&#x2F;samples&#x2F;bentley93engineering.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cs.fit.edu&#x2F;~pkc&#x2F;classes&#x2F;writing&#x2F;samples&#x2F;bentley93engi...</a><p>Tim Peters&#x27; Timsort: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Timsort" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Timsort</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mail.python.org&#x2F;pipermail&#x2F;python-dev&#x2F;2002-July&#x2F;026837.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mail.python.org&#x2F;pipermail&#x2F;python-dev&#x2F;2002-July&#x2F;02683...</a>