4.6 Using sorted() and reversed() to change the order

Python’s sorted() function produces a new list by rearranging the order of items in a list. This is similar to the way the list.sort() method changes the order of list.

Here’s the important distinction between sorted(aList) and aList.sort():

• The aList.sort() method modifies the aList object. It can only be meaningfully applied to a list object.

• The sorted(aList) function creates a new list from an existing collection of items. The source object is not changed. Further, a variety of collections can be sorted. A set or the keys of a dict can be put into order.

There are times when we need a sequence reversed. Python offers us two approaches to this: the reversed() function, and slices with reversed indices.

For example, consider performing a base conversion to hexadecimal or binary. The following code is a simple conversion function:

from collections.abc import Iterator 
 
def digits(x: int, base: int) ->...