two merge sort timing

from timeit import timeit
from random import randint

##################################################################


# teacher's merge sort
def merge1(list_a, list_b):
    list_c = []
    while len(list_a) > 0  and len(list_b) > 0:
        if list_a[0] < list_b[0]:
            list_c.append(list_a.pop(0))
        else:
            list_c.append(list_b.pop(0))
    if list_a == []:
        list_c += list_b
    else:
        list_c += list_a

    return list_c


def merge_sort1(unsorted):
    if len(unsorted) < 2:
        return unsorted
    else:
        middle = len(unsorted) // 2
        front = unsorted[:middle]
        back = unsorted[middle:]

        front = merge_sort1(front)
        back = merge_sort1(back)
    return merge1(front, back)


# the other  merge sort

def merge(list_a, list_b):
    list_c = []
    while len(list_a) > 0  and len(list_b) > 0:
        if list_a[0] < list_b[0]:
            list_c.append(list_a.pop(0))
        else:
            list_c.append(list_b.pop(0))
    if list_a == []:
        list_c += list_b
    else:
        list_c += list_a

    return list_c


def merge_sort(unsorted):
    if len(unsorted) <=1:
        return unsorted
    front =[]
    back =[]

    for i,x in enumerate(unsorted,start=0):

        if i < len(unsorted)/2:
            front.append(x)
        else:
            back.append(x)


    front = merge_sort(front)
    back = merge_sort(back)
    return merge(front, back)



##################################################################



#Generate a large (1000 items) random list
list_to_sort = [randint(0,100000) for i in range(1000)]

#Create anonymous functions to use with timeit, be sure to check these function names match your pasted ones
bs = lambda: merge_sort1(list_to_sort)
ms = lambda: merge_sort(list_to_sort)

#time the functions for 100 runs each
print("My Merge took:")
print(timeit(ms, number = 100))

print("teacher's merge sort  took:")
print(timeit(bs, number = 100))