Add sorting to a comment list with persistence across refresh

Build sorting behavior for a list of comments.

Each comment contains at least these fields:

• id: a string or integer
• userId: a string or integer
• timestamp: an ISO-formatted string or epoch milliseconds
• content: a string

Requirements:

1. Allow sorting by either timestamp or userId.
2. Offer both ascending (asc) and descending (desc) order.
3. Retain the sort field and direction selected by the user after a page reload, such as through a URL query parameter or localStorage.

Provide the central implementation in pseudocode or in the frontend framework of your choice, and explain:

• How the comparison logic works across strings, numbers, and time values.
• How the comments remain properly ordered when additional comments are received.

Constraints:

• The list can contain as many as N = 50,000 comments.

Example

Input: comments=[{id:1,userId:2,timestamp:1000},{id:2,userId:1,timestamp:2000}], sortBy=timestamp, order=asc
Output: order=[id:1,id:2]

The first comment comes before the second because its timestamp, 1000, is earlier than 2000 and the requested direction is ascending.