ordenar array multidimensional

Alguém sabe dizer porque essa função não funciona no PHP 5.3?

Nas versões anteriores funciona sem problemas.

Foi retirada de http://br2.php.net/manual/pt_BR/function.array-multisort.php

<?php
/**
* Sort DB result
*
* @param array $data Result of sql query as associative array
*
* Rest of parameters are optional
* [, string $name [, mixed $name or $order [, mixed $name or $mode]]]
* $name string - column name i database table
* $order integer - sorting direction ascending (SORT_ASC) or descending (SORT_DESC)
* $mode integer - sorting mode (SORT_REGULAR, SORT_STRING, SORT_NUMERIC)
*

 * <code>
 * <?php
 * // You can sort data by several columns e.g.
 * $data = array();
 * for ($i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) {
 * $data[] = array( 'id' => $i,
 * 'first_name' => sprintf('first_name_%s', rand(1, 9)),
 * 'last_name' => sprintf('last_name_%s', rand(1, 9)),
 * 'date' => date('Y-m-d', rand(0, time()))
 * );
 * }
 * $data = sortDbResult($data, 'date', SORT_DESC, SORT_NUMERIC, 'id');
 * printf('<pre>%s</pre>', print_r($data, true));
 * $data = sortDbResult($data, 'last_name', SORT_ASC, SORT_STRING, 'first_name', SORT_ASC, SORT_STRING);
 * printf('<pre>%s</pre>', print_r($data, true));
 * ?>
 * </code>
 *
 * @return array $data - Sorted data
 */

function sortDbResult($data /*$name, $order, $mode*/) {
 $_argList = func_get_args();
 $_data = array_shift($_argList);
 if (empty($_data)) {
 return $_data;
 }
 $_max = count($_argList);
 $_params = array();
 $_cols = array();
 $_rules = array();
 for ($_i = 0; $_i < $_max; $_i += 3)
 {
 $_name = (string) $_argList[$_i];
 if (!in_array($_name, array_keys(current($_data)))) {
 continue;
 }
 if (!isset($_argList[($_i + 1)]) || is_string($_argList[($_i + 1)])) {
 $_order = SORT_ASC;
 $_mode = SORT_REGULAR;
 $_i -= 2;
 } else if (3 > $_argList[($_i + 1)]) {
 $_order = SORT_ASC;
 $_mode = $_argList[($_i + 1)];
 $_i--;
 } else {
 $_order = $_argList[($_i + 1)] == SORT_ASC ? SORT_ASC : SORT_DESC;
 if (!isset($_argList[($_i + 2)]) || is_string($_argList[($_i + 2)])) {
 $_mode = SORT_REGULAR;
 $_i--;
 } else {
 $_mode = $_argList[($_i + 2)];
 }
 }
 $_mode = $_mode != SORT_NUMERIC
 ? $_argList[($_i + 2)] != SORT_STRING ? SORT_REGULAR : SORT_STRING
 : SORT_NUMERIC;
 $_rules[] = array('name' => $_name, 'order' => $_order, 'mode' => $_mode);
 }
 foreach ($_data as $_k => $_row) {
 foreach ($_rules as $_rule) {
 if (!isset($_cols[$_rule['name']])) {
 $_cols[$_rule['name']] = array();
 $_params[] = &$_cols[$_rule['name']];
 $_params[] = $_rule['order'];
 $_params[] = $_rule['mode'];
 }
 $_cols[$_rule['name']][$_k] = $_row[$_rule['name']];
 }
 }
 $_params[] = &$_data;
 call_user_func_array('array_multisort', $_params);
 return $_data;
}
?>