> reversed(sorted(my_list)) I thought sorted(my_list, reverse=True) would be slightly faster, but it seems not (by a tiny amount). Weird. > "while True" shoul

> reversed(sorted(my_list)) I thought sorted(my_list, reverse=True) would be slightly faster, but it seems not (by a tiny amount). Weird. > "while True" should be used in-place of "while 1". Reads better. If you disassemble these statements, you'll see that "while 1" creates fewer instructions: def foo(): while True: pass def bar(): while 1: pass import dis dis.dis(foo) # 0 SETUP_LOOP 10 (to 13) # >> 3 LOAD_GLOBAL 0 (True) # 6 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE 12 # # 9 JUMP_ABSOLUTE 3 # >> 12 POP_BLOCK # >> 13 LOAD_CONST 0 (None) # 16 RETURN_VALUE dis.dis(bar) # 0 SETUP_LOOP 3 (to 6) # # >> 3 JUMP_ABSOLUTE 3 # >> 6 LOAD_CONST 0 (None) # 9 RETURN_VALUE Edit: This is in Python 2.7.1. d0mine pointed out that the discrepancy is no longer the case in Python 3. Good to know. :)