The code in question is most certainly not TimSort, but the rangecheck() method within it, which is copied verbatim from arrays.java, which Bloch wrote
while at Sun. It's what Oracle is using to show that Bloch did reference Sun code and Android is not a clean-room implementation. It's there in the Groklaw piece, but glanced over very quickly because, well it's groklaw.
"Q. Why did you use the same rangecheck() function in Timsort as was in arrays.java?
A. It's good software engineering to reuse an existing function.
Q. But why use the exact same code?
A. I copied rangecheck() as a temporary measure, assuming this would be merged into arrays.java and my version of rangecheck() would go away.
[Discussion of Timsort dates and Android work dates.]"
"Q. Why did you use the same rangecheck() function in Timsort as was in arrays.java?
A. It's good software engineering to reuse an existing function.
Q. But why use the exact same code?
A. I copied rangecheck() as a temporary measure, assuming this would be merged into arrays.java and my version of rangecheck() would go away.
[Discussion of Timsort dates and Android work dates.]"