Improve statistics.median() complexity
Open
Nobody has claimed this yet.
performance
stdlib
type-feature
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 77.2k
- Forks
- 35.9k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
Median can be computed in time O(n log n) without sorting using the select-k algorithm.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Read the median implementation in Lib/statistics.py at the linked lines and determine how its current sorting step can be replaced by a select-k approach. Check that the resulting implementation preserves median behavior while avoiding a full sort, and verify the complexity improvement with the relevant statistics tests.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- performance
- Issue type
- Refactor
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100