Sorting an Array in Applescript

Hi

I'm having two arrays, the first is messy, the second is sorted after its value.

set number_list to {20, 30, 20, 40}
set sorted_numbers to  {20, 20, 30, 40}

Now i would like to compare the two arrays and how the items in the array have been moved.

I translated following return method directly from java, which works fine in java, but doesnt in applescript.

on compareLists(my_list, sortedList)
    set len to (the number of items in my_list)
    set comparedList to {}
    repeat with i from 1 to len
        set end of comparedList to -1
    end repeat
    repeat with i from 1 to len
        repeat with j from 1 to len
            if (item i of my_list) > (item j of sortedList) then
                set temp to j
                repeat with k from 1 to len
                    if temp = item (k) of comparedList then
                        set temp to j + 1                           
                    end if
                end repeat
                set item i of comparedList to (temp)
                --exit repeat
            end if
        end repeat
    end repeat
    return comparedList
end compareLists

Calling this method:

return compareLists(number_list, sorted_numbers)

... doesnt produce the ouput as expected:

{1, 3, 2, 4

instead you it returns:

{-1, 2, -1, 4}

I also asked this question on Stackoverflow. For more informations please visit http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18515013/sorting-an-array-in-applescript

Thanks!