Tim Sort
Tim Sort is a hybrid, stable sorting algorithm derived from merge sort and insertion sort, designed to perform well on many kinds of real-world data. It was implemented by Tim Peters for Python in 2002 and is now the default sorting algorithm in Python, Java (for arrays of objects), and other languages. The algorithm identifies and exploits naturally occurring runs (sorted subsequences) in the data to optimize performance.
Developers should learn Tim Sort when working with sorting tasks in languages like Python or Java, as it offers efficient O(n log n) worst-case and O(n) best-case performance, making it ideal for real-world datasets that often have partial order. It is particularly useful for sorting large arrays of objects, such as in database operations or data processing pipelines, where stability (preserving the order of equal elements) and adaptive behavior are critical.