Deterministic operators

Sort

Order values with a deterministic comparison.

Sort recovers an order defined by a trusted comparison.

Worked example

Sort(
    name="order-events",
    input_spaces=("events",),
    output_space="ordered-events",
    primary_key="event_id",
    evidence=("published_at",),
    fn=lambda earlier, later: earlier["published_at"] < later["published_at"],
)

Callable contract

fn(earlier, later) -> bool. The callable states whether the first value precedes the second.

Rows available to the callable

Each row argument contains the declared primary-key fields and the declared evidence fields available for that input role. If the callable reads a field that is not part of the primary key, declare it as evidence.

Parameter	Default	Meaning
`input_spaces`	required	The Space or Spaces read by the task.
`output_space`	required	The Space that receives the task output.
`name`	required	A stable task name used in sessions, reviews, and metrics.
`primary_key`	id	The field, or tuple of fields, that identifies one task input. Duplicate primary-key values are evaluated once.
`evidence`	none	Optional fields made available to the callable in addition to the primary key.
`fn`	required	A deterministic callable that completely defines the operation's decision. Use an importable named function from your package, or PythonFunction(name=..., source=...) when authoring through the hosted API or node editor. Pairwise endomorphic functions may declare an exact indexed candidate_gate.
`function_parameters`	registered defaults	Typed values bound to parameters declared by the registered function. Finite candidate sets let reviewed evidence support parameter advice.

Parameter	Default	Meaning
`top_n`	unset	Keep only the first N values. Set at most one of top_n and bottom_n.
`bottom_n`	unset	Keep only the last N values.

Output

The input values in recovered order, each with its zero-based rank. With top_n or bottom_n, only that end of the order is kept and ranks stay positions in the complete order.

Design guidance

Use Sort for parsed dates, numeric scores, and deterministic priorities. Use SemSort only when precedence itself requires interpretation.