Length-unaware sorting algorithm

["Soni L." <fakedme@...>]

Have y'all noticed how pretty much all sorting algorithms rely on length?

Are there any sorting algorithms that aren't explicitly aware of the 
sequence/array length, and instead just happen to produce a sorted 
array? (i.e. a sorting algorithm that doesn't rely on # or manual length 
calculations, and doesn't explicitly try to find the boundary where the 
array ends.)

Even the current Lua sorting algorithm uses the table length. Would be 
interesting if there was a sorting algorithm about as fast as Lua's 
current sorting algorithm, but without relying on length.

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