I've been experimenting with a concept I call "lazy sorting" and would love some feedback.
Have you had collections that might benefit from being sorted, but you don't want to pay the upfront cost or manage the complexity?
The Idea
@LazySorted - An annotation that makes collections gradually optimize themselves based on actual usage:
java
@LazySorted(
priority = Priority.HIGH,
readCount = 10000,
// Must be sorted by 10,000th read
cpuThreshold = 0.3
// Only sort when CPU < 30%
)
private List hotProducts;
The collection slowly sorts itself during idle cycles, making frequently accessed items faster to find over time
How It Works
- Tracks access patterns behind the scenes
- Performs micro-optimizations during low-load periods
- No big sorting spikes - gradual improvement
- Implemented as a standard List - drop-in replacement
Use Cases I'm Thinking
- Long-running caches
- Configuration data
- Read-heavy reference data
Anywhere you'd eventually sort, but don't need it immediately
My Questions:
- Has anyone actually needed this in production?
- Is this solving a real problem or just adding complexity?
- Would you use this, or just stick with occasional Collections.sort()?
- What use cases would make this actually valuable?
Appreciate your honest feedback. Many thanks!
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