val

1. As with all nodes, a number of input and output values may be processed in a batch, so that an entire list is dispatched at once; or one output at a time may be generated and consumed by downstream nodes. It depends on a number of factors and conditions, including wire depth (number of data items a wire may hold) and scheduling considerations.

2. For every element type, a slightly different notion of "ordering" is used. Numbers are sorted by interpreting their bit patterns as unsigned; this applies to signed, unsigned and floating point numbers. Strings are sorted lexicographically. All other heap-allocated types are sorted by their addresses, which vary from run to run.