Super simple ranking algo implementation inspired by Reddit and https://www.reddit.com/r/algorithms/comments/3lfxla/what_is_the_best_ranking_algorithm_to_rank_a/

simple_two_factor_ranking_algo.py

list_of_items = [
    ['Wow, did you hear about this thing that happened over here?!?', 201, 10], 
    ['TIL Something interesting happened at some place.', 14, 24],
    ['My cat.', 101, 14],
    ['Somebody said this to me the other day. I dont agree with that person.', 449, 55],
    ['For my cakeday, I want a lot of upvotes and presents.', 348, 33],
    ['My cat. Part 2.', 777, 13]
]

ranked_list_of_items = sorted(list_of_items, key=lambda x:x[1], reverse=True)

upvote_count_normalizing_contant = sum([x[1] for x in list_of_items])

item_age_normalizing_contant = sum([x[2] for x in list_of_items])

normalized_list_of_items = [[x[0], x[1]/upvote_count_normalizing_contant,
                            (1-x[2]/item_age_normalizing_contant)] # subtract from 1, old posts score less
                            for x in list_of_items]

def multiply_weights_to_scores(item, a, b):
    """assumes item is a list of 3 elements, where
    the first element is a text, and the second and
    third are numerical values multiplied by a and b
    """
    return [item[0], a*item[1], b*item[2]]

a, b = 0.2, 0.8
weighted_normalized_list_of_items = [multiply_weights_to_scores(item, a, b) 
                                     for item in normalized_list_of_items]
sorted(weighted_normalized_list_of_items, key=lambda x: x[1]+x[2], reverse=True)