The benefit is only lost if you want to store the sorted mylist. However, sorted() is useful if you want to create a list, sort it, use it, and throw it away..

The benefit is only lost if you want to store the sorted mylist. However, sorted() is useful if you want to create a list, sort it, use it, and throw it away... all in a single line. The blog gives an example where a file is read, sorted and transformed. If he loaded the file to a list and sorted that list before transforming it, there would be an unnecessary copy of the list sitting around consuming memory.