10.28.2005 - sort() of a problem
Perhaps this is common knowledge, but I was unaware of it as were the two folks I mentioned it to who are both very solid coders:
The sort method of the Array object in javascript will always sort lexicographically unless a comparison function is passed as an argument.
Meaning, an array with values of 0,5,9,10 will sort to 0,10,5,9 unless you write up a quick function like this:
function numericSort(a,b) {
return a-b;
}...and pass that function as the argument to the sort method, a la sort(numericSort) to get the sort you're expecting.
I wasted a bit of time fighting with what seemed a random issue until it dawned on me what was happening. Hopefully this will prevent anyone else from tripping over the same silly issue. See developer.mozilla.org for more info.
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