Sorted Frozen Set

SortedFrozenSet is a custom immutable data structure that combines the characteristics of a set and a list, ensuring that elements are unique and sorted. This implementation was created as a learning exercise to explore how to develop custom data structures in Python. The project was built using the principles of Test-Driven Development (TDD) to ensure correctness and reliability.

Implementation details

The SortedFrozenSet class was designed with the following principles in mind:

• Immutability: The internal storage of elements is done using a tuple, ensuring that the set cannot be altered after creation.
• Sorting: Elements are sorted at the time of creation using Python's built-in sorted() function.
• Uniqueness: The set ensures that all elements are unique, automatically removing any duplicates during initialization. This guarantees that each element appears only once in the set.
• Efficiency: Set operations are implemented using efficient algorithms to minimize time complexity, often leveraging Python’s built-in set data structure.

Implemented Protocols

The SortedFrozenSet class implements several Python protocols to provide a wide range of functionalities:

• Container Protocol (__contains__): Allows checking if an item is in the set using the in keyword.
• Equality Protocol (__eq__): Supports equality comparison between SortedFrozenSet instances.
• Hashable Protocol (__hash__): Makes SortedFrozenSet objects hashable, allowing them to be used as dictionary keys or elements in other sets.
• Inequality Protocols (__lt__, __le__, __gt__, __ge__): Implements comparison operations to allow for sorting and comparison of sets.
• Iterable Protocol (__iter__): Allows iteration over elements in the set using a for loop.
• Repr Protocol (__repr__): Provides a string representation of the SortedFrozenSet object, useful for debugging.
• Sequence Protocol (__getitem__, __len__): Implements sequence operations, enabling indexing, slicing, and length retrieval.
• Sized Protocol (__len__): Allows retrieving the number of elements in the set using the len() function.

These protocols ensure that SortedFrozenSet integrates seamlessly with Python's built-in operations and can be used in a wide variety of contexts.

Creating a SortedFrozenSet

from sorted_frozenset import SortedFrozenSet

# Creating an empty SortedFrozenSet
sfs = SortedFrozenSet()

# Creating a SortedFrozenSet with initial items
sfs = SortedFrozenSet([5, 3, 1, 4, 2, 4, 2, 1])
print(sfs)  # Output: SortedFrozenSet([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

License

Feel free to use this applications for your private, personal use.