Optimization can be tricky

[Curry Kenworthy]

Put yourself in the computer's shoes, and also clarify what you need to 
accomplish. You are asking it to sort the entire list of 2000 records, 
but (if I understand) you only want a handful of those.

And it has already gone through all the records once before the sort. If 
you asked a human to do that, it would be a risky interaction. There 
might be raised voices when they present the neatly arranged file 
cabinet with files in a special order, and you deliver the punch line 
that you only need to pull a few. If you only need to pull 5 records, 
most people don't want to go through all 2000 files - twice.

So generally, don't use a sort after doing a complete loop on a big text 
list, use another method. Do unto your computer as you hope it will do 
unto you when they run the world. :)

(But I would be interested in the speed of your original code on LC 9 vs 
LC 6.7, just to see how engine optimization is faring. I'm surprised it 
took a minute.)

Best wishes,

Curry Kenworthy

Custom Software Development
LiveCode Training and Consulting
http://livecodeconsulting.com/