FLASH: Array.sort() performance?

[Daryn Nakhuda]

I'm using the built-in sort method to sort an array. I'm using a helper

function to make it case-insensitive, something like (i'm paraphrasing so

don't worry about my syntax/typos here)


function helper(a,b) {

	if (a.toLowerCase() < b.toLowerCase()) {

		return -1;

	}

	else if (a.toLowerCase() > b.toLowerCase()) {

		return 1;

	}

	else {

		return 0;

	}

}



myarray.sort(helper);



ANYHOW, performance seems to really dog when the array gets large (more

than a few hundred items).. 


has anyone else seen this? It's possibly that I'm running up against

limitations in flash, and of course the performance will vary based on the

client machine, but I'm also guessing that the built-in implementation of

the sort algorithm may be sub-optimal...


When I put trace lines in the sort helper, you can watch the comparisions,

and it looks like it's either bubbling or something similar, definitly

looks O(n^2).


Have any of you implemented better sort algorithms in flash5 that you'd be

willing to share? 




Thanks,


Daryn





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