Forget sorting, the real risk is cross-contamination. Kitchen stuff has oils and food bits that could mess with the metal over time.

Seriously, that paper method is key. @patriciah99 mentioning recursion is spot on. I had to draw little boxes for linked lists before it clicked. Why do we act like typing is thinking? For a while loop, writing "i=0, check, print, i=1" makes the mistake obvious. That kid figured out more about debugging in an hour than some do in a month.

Wasn't that a gift card, not a credit card?