ListReduce.py

#!/usr/bin/python

from __future__ import division

import collections
import sys

compare = lambda x, y: collections.Counter(x) == collections.Counter(y)

def main():
    initial  = [3, 6, 5, 1, 9, 7, 2, 12, 23]
    expected = [2, 4, 3, 0, 6, 5, 1,  7,  8]

    for newMin in range(len(initial)):
        minIndex, minValue = 0, sys.maxint

        for i in range(len(initial)):
            currValue = initial[i]
            if currValue < minValue and currValue > newMin:
                minValue, minIndex = currValue, i

        initial[minIndex] = newMin

    print compare(initial, expected)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()