appendix f - sorting- a deeper look

8/13/2019 Appendix F - Sorting- A Deeper Look

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F Sorting: A Deeper Look

With sobs and tearshe sorted outThose of the largest size Lewis Carroll

Tis in my memory lockd,And you yourself shall keep thekey of it.

William Shakespeare

It is an immutable law inbusiness that words are words,explanations are explanations,

promises are promises butonly performance is reality.Harold S. Green

O b j e c t i v e sIn this appendix, youll learn:

To sort an array using theselection sort algorithm.

To sort an array using theinsertion sort algorithm.

To sort an array using therecursive merge sortalgorithm.

To determine the efficiency ofsearching and sorting

algorithms and express it inBig O notation.

To explore (in the exercises)additional recursive sorts,including quicksort and arecursive selection sort.

To explore (in the exercises)the high performance bucketsort.

2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All Rights Reserved.


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F.1 Introduction LIX

F.1 IntroductionAs you learned in Chapter 6, sorting places data in order, typically ascending or descend-ing, based on one or more sort keys. This appendix introduces the selection sort and in-sertion sort algorithms, along with the more efficient, but more complex, merge sort. WeintroduceBig O notation, which is used to estimate the worst-case run time for an algo-rithmthat is, how hard an algorithm may have to work to solve a problem.

An important point to understand about sorting is that the end resultthe sorted

array of datawill be the same no matter which sorting algorithm you use. The choice ofalgorithm affects only the run time and memory use of the program. The first two sortingalgorithms we study hereselection sort and insertion sortare easy to program, butinefficient. The third algorithmrecursive merge sortis more efficient than selectionsort and insertion sort, but harder to program.

The exercises present two more recursive sortsquicksort and a recursive version ofselection sort. Another exercise presents the bucket sort, which achieves high performanceby clever use of considerably more memory than the other sorts we discuss.

F.2 Big O NotationSuppose an algorithm is designed to test whether the first element of an array is equal tothe second element of the array. If the array has 10 elements, this algorithm requires onecomparison. If the array has 1000 elements, the algorithm still requires one comparison.In fact, the algorithm is completely independent of the number of elements in the array.This algorithm is said to have aconstant run time, which is represented in Big O notationas O(1)and pronounced order 1. An algorithm that isO(1) does not necessarily requireonly one comparison. O(1) just means that the number of comparisons is constantit doesnot grow as the size of the array increases. An algorithm that tests whether the first elementof an array is equal to any of the next three elements is still O(1) even though it requiresthree comparisons.

An algorithm that tests whether the first element of an array is equal to anyof theother elements of the array will require at most n 1 comparisons, wherenis the numberof elements in the array. If the array has 10 elements, this algorithm requires up to ninecomparisons. If the array has 1000 elements, this algorithm requires up to 999 compari-sons. As n grows larger, the n part of the expression dominates, and subtracting onebecomes inconsequential. Big O is designed to highlight these dominant terms and ignoreterms that become unimportant as n grows. For this reason, an algorithm that requires atotal ofn 1 comparisons (such as the one we described earlier) is said to be O(n). AnO(n)algorithm is referred to as having alinear run time. O(n) is often pronounced on theorder ofn or more simply ordern.

F.1 Introduction

F.2 Big O Notation

F.3 Selection Sort

F.4 Insertion Sort

F.5 Merge Sort

Summary | Terminology | Self-Review Exercises | Answers to Self-Review Exercises | Exercises



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LX Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

Suppose you have an algorithm that tests whether anyelement of an array is dupli-cated elsewhere in the array. The first element must be compared with every other elementin the array. The second element must be compared with every other element except thefirstit was already compared to the first. The third element must be compared with

every other element except the first two. In the end, this algorithm will end up making(n 1) + (n 2) + + 2 + 1 orn2/2 n/2 comparisons. Asnincreases, then2term dom-inates, and then term becomes inconsequential. Again, Big O notation highlights then2

term, leavingn2/2. But as well soon see, constant factors are omitted in Big O notation.Big O is concerned with how an algorithms run time grows in relation to the number

of items processed. Suppose an algorithm requiresn2 comparisons. With four elements, thealgorithm will require 16 comparisons; with eight elements, the algorithm will require 64comparisons. With this algorithm, doubling the number of elements quadruples the numberof comparisons. Consider a similar algorithm requiringn2/2 comparisons. With four ele-ments, the algorithm will require eight comparisons; with eight elements, the algorithm willrequire 32 comparisons. Again, doubling the number of elements quadruples the number ofcomparisons. Both of these algorithms grow as the square ofn, so Big O ignores the constantand both algorithms are considered to be O(n2), which is referred to as quadratic run timeand pronounced on the order ofn-squared or more simply ordern-squared.

Whenn is small,O(n2) algorithms (running on todays billion-operation-per-secondpersonal computers) will not noticeably affect performance. But asngrows, youll start tonotice the performance degradation. An O(n2) algorithm running on a million-elementarray would require a trillion operations (where each could actually require severalmachine instructions to execute). This could require a few hours to execute. A billion-ele-ment array would require a quintillion operations, a number so large that the algorithmcould take decades!O(n2) algorithms, unfortunately, are easy to write, as youll see in this

appendix. Youll also see an algorithm with a more favorable Big O measure. Efficientalgorithms often take a bit more cleverness and work to create, but their superior perfor-mance can be well worth the extra effort, especially as n gets large and as algorithms arecombined into larger programs.

F.3 Selection SortSelection sortis a simple, but inefficient, sorting algorithm. The first iteration of the al-gorithm selects the smallest element in the array and swaps it with the first element. Thesecond iteration selects the second-smallest element (which is the smallest of those remain-

ing) and swaps it with the second element. The algorithm continues until the last iterationselects the second-largest element and swaps it with the second-to-last, leaving the largestelement as the last. After the ith iteration, the smallestipositions of the array will be sortedinto increasing order in the first ipositions of the array.

As an example, consider the array

A program that implements selection sort first determines the smallest element (4) of thisarray which is contained in the third element of the array (i.e., element 2 because arraysubscripts start at 0). The program swaps 4 with 34, resulting in

34 56 4 10 77 51 93 30 5 52

4 56 34 10 77 51 93 30 5 52



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F.3 Selection Sort LXI

The program then determines the smallest of the remaining elements (all elements except4), which is 5, contained at array subscript 8. The program swaps 5 with 56, resulting in

On the third iteration, the program determines the next smallest value (10) and swaps itwith 34.

The process continues until after nine iterations the array is fully sorted.

After the first iteration, the smallest element is in the first position. After the second iter-ation, the two smallest elements are in order in the first two positions. After the third it-eration, the three smallest elements are in order in the first three positions.

Figure F.1 implements the selection sort algorithm on the arrayarray, which is initial-

ized with 10 random ints (possibly duplicates). The main function prints the unsortedarray, calls the function sorton the array, and then prints the array again after it has beensorted.

4 5 34 10 77 51 93 30 56 52

4 5 10 34 77 51 93 30 56 52

4 5 10 30 34 51 52 56 77 93

1 /* Fig. F.1: figF_01.c

2 The selection sort algorithm. */

3 #define SIZE 10

4 #include

5 #include

6 #include

7

8 /* function prototypes */9 void selectionSort( int array[], int length );

10 void swap( int array[], int first, int second );

11 void printPass( int array[], int length, int pass, int index );

12

13 int main( void )

14 {

15 int array[ SIZE ]; /* declare the array of ints to be sorted */

16 int i; /* int used in for loop */

17

18 srand( time( NULL ) ); /* seed the rand function */

19

20 for ( i = 0; i < SIZE; i + + )

21 array[ i ] = rand() % 90 + 10; /* give each element a value */22

23 printf( "Unsorted array:\n" );

24

25 for ( i = 0; i < SIZE; i + + ) /* print the array */

26 printf( "%d ", array[ i ] );

27

28 printf( "\n\n" );

29 selectionSort( array, SIZE );

30 printf( "Sorted array:\n" );

31

Fig. F.1 | Selection sort algorithm. (Part 1 of 3.)



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LXII Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

32 for ( i = 0; i < SIZE; i + + ) /* print the array */


34

35 return 0;

36 } /* end function main */

37

38 /* function that selection sorts the array */

39 void selectionSort( int array[], int length )

40 {

41 int smallest; /* index of smallest element */

42 int i, j; /* ints used in for loops */

43

44 /* loop over length - 1 elements */

45 for ( i = 0; i < length - 1; i + + ) {

46 smallest = i; /* first index of remaining array */

47

48 /* loop to find index of smallest element */

49 for ( j = i + 1; j < length; j++ )50 if ( array[ j ] < array[ smallest ] )

51 smallest = j;

52

53 swap( array, i, smallest ); /* swap smallest element */

54 printPass( array, length, i + 1, smallest ); /* output pass */

55 } /* end for */

56 } /* end function selectionSort */

57

58 /* function that swaps two elements in the array */

59 void swap( int array[], int first, int second )

60 {

61 int temp; /* temporary integer */62 temp = array[ first ];

63 array[ first ] = array[ second ];

64 array[ second ] = temp;

65 } /* end function swap */

66

67 /* function that prints a pass of the algorithm */

68 void printPass( int array[], int length, int pass, int index )

69 {


71

72 printf( "After pass %2d: ", pass );

73

74 /* output elements till selected item */75 for ( i = 0; i < index; i++ )


77

78 printf( "%d* ", array[ index ] ); /* indicate swap */

79

80 /* finish outputting array */

81 for ( i = i n d e x + 1; i < length; i++ )


83

84 printf( "\n " ); /* for alignment */




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F.3 Selection Sort LXIII

Lines 3956 define the selectionSort function. Line 41 declares the variablesmallest, which stores the index of the smallest element in the remaining array. Lines 4555 loop SIZE - 1times. Line 46 assigns the index of the smallest element to the currentitem. Lines 4951 loop over the remaining elements in the array. For each of these ele-ments, line 50 compares its value to the value of the smallest element. If the current ele-ment is smaller than the smallest element, line 51 assigns the current elements index to

smallest. When this loop finishes, smallestcontains the index of the smallest elementin the remaining array. Line 53 calls function swap (lines 5965) to place the smallestremaining element in the next spot in the array.

The output of this program uses dashes to indicate the portion of the array that isguaranteed to be sorted after each pass. An asterisk is placed next to the position of theelement that was swapped with the smallest element on that pass. On each pass, the ele-ment to the left of the asterisk and the element above the rightmost set of dashes were thetwo values that were swapped.

Efficiency of Selection SortThe selection sort algorithm runs inO(n2) time. TheselectionSortmethod in lines 39

56 of Fig. F.1, which implements the selection sort algorithm, contains two forloops. The

85

86 /* indicate amount of array that is sorted */

87 for ( i = 0; i < pass; i++ )

88 printf( "-- " );

89

90 printf( "\n" ); /* add newline */

91 } /* end function printPass */

Unsorted array:72 34 88 14 32 12 34 77 56 83

After pass 1: 12 34 88 14 32 72* 34 77 56 83--

After pass 2: 12 14 88 34* 32 72 34 77 56 83-- --

After pass 3: 12 14 32 34 88* 72 34 77 56 83-- -- --

After pass 4: 12 14 32 34* 88 72 34 77 56 83

-- -- -- --After pass 5: 12 14 32 34 34 72 88* 77 56 83

-- -- -- -- --After pass 6: 12 14 32 34 34 56 88 77 72* 83

-- -- -- -- -- --After pass 7: 12 14 32 34 34 56 72 77 88* 83

-- -- -- -- -- -- --After pass 8: 12 14 32 34 34 56 72 77* 88 83

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --After pass 9: 12 14 32 34 34 56 72 77 83 88*

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --After pass 10: 12 14 32 34 34 56 72 77 83 88*

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Sorted array:12 14 32 34 34 56 72 77 83 88




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LXIV Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

outerforloop (lines 4555) iterates over the first n 1 elements in the array, swapping thesmallest remaining item into its sorted position. The inner forloop (lines 4951) iteratesover each item in the remaining array, searching for the smallest element. This loop executesn 1 times during the first iteration of the outer loop, n 2 times during the second itera-

tion, thenn 3, , 3, 2, 1. This inner loop iterates a total ofn(n 1) / 2 or (n2

n)/2. InBig O notation, smaller terms drop out and constants are ignored, leaving a Big O ofO(n2).

F.4 Insertion SortInsertion sortis another simple, but inefficient, sorting algorithm. The first iteration of thisalgorithm takes the second element in the array and, if it is less than the first element, swapsit with the first element. The second iteration looks at the third element and inserts it intothe correct position with respect to the first two elements, so all three elements are in order.

At theith iteration of this algorithm, the firstielements in the original array will be sorted.Consider as an example the following array [Note:This array is identical to the array

used in the discussions of selection sort and merge sort.]

A program that implements the insertion sort algorithm will first look at the first two ele-ments of the array, 34 and 56. These two elements are already in order, so the programcontinues (if they were out of order, the program would swap them).

In the next iteration, the program looks at the third value, 4. This value is less than56, so the program stores 4 in a temporary variable and moves 56 one element to the right.The program then checks and determines that 4 is less than 34, so it moves 34 one elementto the right. The program has now reached the beginning of the array, so it places 4 in

element 0. The array now is

In the next iteration, the program stores the value 10 in a temporary variable. Then theprogram compares 10 to 56 and moves 56 one element to the right because it is larger than10. The program then compares 10 to 34, moving 34 right one element. When the pro-gram compares 10 to 4, it observes that 10 is larger than 4 and places 10 in element 1. Thearray now is

Using this algorithm, at the ith iteration, the firsti+ 1 elements of the original array are

sorted with respect to one another. They may not be in their final locations, however, be-cause smaller values may be located later in the array.

Figure F.2 implements the insertion sort algorithm. Lines 3858 declare the inser-tionSortfunction. Line 40 declares the variable insert, which holds the element youregoing to insert while you move the other elements. Lines 4457 loop over SIZE - 1itemsin the array. In each iteration, line 46 stores in insertthe value of the element that willbe inserted into the sorted portion of the array. Line 45 declares and initializes the variablemoveItem, which keeps track of where to insert the element. Lines 4953 loop to locatethe correct position where the element should be inserted. The loop terminates either

when the program reaches the front of the array or when it reaches an element that is less

than the value to be inserted. Line 51 moves an element to the right, and line 52 decre-

34 56 4 10 77 51 93 30 5 52

4 34 56 10 77 51 93 30 5 52

4 10 34 56 77 51 93 30 5 52



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LXVI Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

48 /* search for place to put current element */

49 while ( moveItem > 0 && array[ moveItem - 1 ] > insert ) {

50 /* shift element right one slot */

51 array[ moveItem ] = array[ moveItem - 1 ];

52 --moveItem;

53 } /* end while */

54

55 array[ moveItem ] = insert; /* place inserted element */

56 printPass( array, length, i, moveItem );

57 } /* end for */

58 } /* end function insertionSort */

59

60 /* function that prints a pass of the algorithm */

61 void printPass( int array[], int length, int pass, int index )

62 {


64

65 printf( "After pass %2d: ", pass );66

67 /* output elements till selected item */

68 for ( i = 0; i < index; i++ )


70

71 printf( "%d* ", array[ index ] ); /* indicate swap */

72

73 /* finish outputting array */

74 for ( i = i n d e x + 1; i < length; i++ )


76

77 printf( "\n " ); /* for alignment */78

79 /* indicate amount of array that is sorted */

80 for ( i = 0; i


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F.5 Merge Sort LXVII

Efficiency of Insertion Sort

The insertion sort algorithm also runs inO(n2) time. Like selection sort, the insertion-

Sortfunction (lines 3858) uses two loops. The forloop (lines 4457) iterates SIZE - 1times, inserting an element into the appropriate position in the elements sorted so far. Forthe purposes of this application, SIZE - 1is equivalent ton 1 (as SIZEis the size of thearray). The whileloop (lines 4953) iterates over the preceding elements in the array. Inthe worst case, this whileloop requiresn 1 comparisons. Each individual loop runs inO(n) time. In Big O notation, nested loops mean that you must multiply the number ofiterations of each loop. For each iteration of an outer loop, there will be a certain numberof iterations of the inner loop. In this algorithm, for eachO(n) iterations of the outer loop,there will beO(n) iterations of the inner loop. Multiplying these values results in a Big OofO(n2).

F.5 Merge SortMerge sortis an efficient sorting algorithm, but is conceptually more complex than selec-tion sort and insertion sort. The merge sort algorithm sorts an array by splitting it into twoequal-sized subarrays, sorting each subarray, then merging them into one larger array.

With an odd number of elements, the algorithm creates the two subarrays such that onehas one more element than the other.

The implementation of merge sort in this example is recursive. The base case is anarray with one element. A one-element array is, of course, sorted, so merge sort immedi-

ately returns when it is called with a one-element array. The recursion step splits an arrayof two or more elements into two equal-sized subarrays, recursively sorts each subarray,then merges them into one larger, sorted array. [Again, if there is an odd number of ele-ments, one subarray is one element larger than the other.]

Suppose the algorithm has already merged smaller arrays to create sorted arrays A:

and B:

Merge sort combines these two arrays into one larger, sorted array. The smallest element

in A is 4 (located in the element zero of A). The smallest element in B is 5 (located in the

After pass 5: 11 16 63 72 92 99* 59 82 99 30-- -- -- -- -- --

After pass 6: 11 16 59* 63 72 92 99 82 99 30-- -- -- -- -- -- --

After pass 7: 11 16 59 63 72 82* 92 99 99 30-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

After pass 8: 11 16 59 63 72 82 92 99 99* 30-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

After pass 9: 11 16 30* 59 63 72 82 92 99 99-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Sorted array:11 16 30 59 63 72 82 92 99 99

4 10 34 56 77

5 30 51 52 93

Fig. F.2 | Insertion sort algorithm. (Part 3 of 3.)



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LXVIII Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

zeroth index of B). To determine the smallest element in the larger array, the algorithmcompares 4 and 5. The value from A is smaller, so 4 becomes the first element in themerged array. The algorithm continues by comparing 10 (the second element in A) to 5(the first element in B). The value from B is smaller, so 5 becomes the second element in

the larger array. The algorithm continues by comparing 10 to 30, with 10 becoming thethird element in the array, and so on.Figure F.3 implements the merge sort algorithm, and lines 3538 define the merge-

Sortfunction. Line 37 calls function sortSubArraywith 0andSIZE - 1 as the arguments.The arguments correspond to the beginning and ending indices of the array to be sorted,causingsortSubArrayto operate on the entire array. Function sortSubArrayis definedin lines 4166. Line 46 tests the base case. If the size of the array is 1, the array is sorted,so the function simply returns immediately. If the size of the array is greater than 1, thefunction splits the array in two, recursively calls function sortSubArrayto sort the twosubarrays, then merges them. Line 60 recursively calls function sortSubArrayon the firsthalf of the array, and line 61 recursively calls function sortSubArrayon the second halfof the array. When these two function calls return, each half of the array has been sorted.Line 64 calls function merge(lines 69111) on the two halves of the array to combine thetwo sorted arrays into one larger sorted array.

1 /* Fig. F.3: figF_03.c

2 The merge sort algorithm. */

3 #define SIZE 10

4 #include

5 #include

6 #include

7

8 /* function prototypes */9 void mergeSort( int array[], int length );

10 void sortSubArray( int array[], int low, int high );

11 void merge( int array[], int left, int middle1, int middle2, int right );

12 void displayElements( int array[], int length );

13 void displaySubArray( int array[], int left, int right );

14

15 int main( void )

16 {

17 int array[ SIZE ]; /* declare the array of ints to be sorted */


19

20 srand( time( NULL ) ); /* seed the rand function */21

22 for ( i = 0; i < SIZE; i + + )

23 array[ i ] = rand() % 90 + 10; /* give each element a value */

24

25 printf( "Unsorted array:\n" );

26 displayElements( array, SIZE ); /* print the array */


28 mergeSort( array, SIZE ); /* merge sort the array */

29 printf( "Sorted array:\n" );

30 displayElements( array, SIZE ); /* print the array */

Fig. F.3 | Merge sort algorithm. (Part 1 of 5.)



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F.5 Merge Sort LXIX

31 return 0;

32 } /* end function main */

33

34 /* function that merge sorts the array */

35 void mergeSort( int array[], int length )

36 {

37 sortSubArray( array, 0, length - 1 );

38 } /* end function mergeSort */

39

40 /* function that sorts a piece of the array */

41 void sortSubArray( int array[], int low, int high )

42 {

43 int middle1, middle2; /* ints that record where the array is split */

44

45 /* test base case: size of array is 1 */

46 if ( ( h i g h - l o w ) > = 1 ) { /* if not base case... */

47 middle1 = ( low + high ) / 2;

48 middle2 = middle1 + 1;49

50 /* output split step */

51 printf( "split: " );

52 displaySubArray( array, low, high );

53 printf( "\n " );

54 displaySubArray( array, low, middle1 );

55 printf( "\n " );

56 displaySubArray( array, middle2, high );


58

59 /* split array in half and sort each half recursively */

60 sortSubArray( array, low, middle1 ); /* first half */61 sortSubArray( array, middle2, high ); /* second half */

62

63 /* merge the two sorted arrays */

64 merge( array, low, middle1, middle2, high );

65 } /* end if */

66 } /* end function sortSubArray */

67

68 /* merge two sorted subarrays into one sorted subarray */

69 void merge( int array[], int left, int middle1, int middle2, int right )

70 {

71 int leftIndex = left; /* index into left subarray */

72 int rightIndex = middle2; /* index into right subarray */

73 int combinedIndex = left; /* index into temporary array */74 int tempArray[ SIZE ]; /* temporary array */


76

77 /* output two subarrays before merging */

78 printf( "merge: " );

79 displaySubArray( array, left, middle1 );

80 printf( "\n " );

81 displaySubArray( array, middle2, right );

82 printf( "\n" );




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LXX Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

83

84 /* merge the subarrays until the end of one is reached */

85 while ( leftIndex


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F.5 Merge Sort LXXI

Unsorted array:7 9 8 6 6 0 7 9 7 6 7 1 4 4 8 8 5 8 2 3

split: 79 86 60 79 76 71 44 88 58 2379 86 60 79 76

71 44 88 58 23

split: 79 86 60 79 7679 86 60

79 76

split: 79 86 6079 86

60

split: 79 8679

86

merge: 7986

79 86

merge: 79 8660

60 79 86

split: 79 7679

76

merge: 7976

76 79

merge: 60 79 8676 79

60 76 79 79 86

split: 71 44 88 58 2371 44 88

58 23

split: 71 44 88

71 4488

split: 71 4471

44merge: 71

4444 71




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Summary LXXIII

tosortSubArraygenerating two additional calls to sortSubArrayand a call tomerge, untilthe algorithm has split the array into one-element subarrays. At each level,O(n) compari-sons are required to merge the subarrays. Each level splits the size of the arrays in half, sodoubling the size of the array requires one more level. Quadrupling the size of the array re-

quires two more levels. This pattern is logarithmic and results in log2nlevels. This resultsin a total efficiency ofO(nlogn).Figure F.4 summarizes many of the searching and sorting algorithms covered in this

book and lists the Big O for each of them. Figure F.5 lists the Big O values we have coveredin this appendix along with a number of values for nto highlight the differences in thegrowth rates.

Algorithm Big O

Insertion sort O(n2)

Selection sort O(n2)Merge sort O(nlogn)

Bubble sort O(n2)

Quicksort Worst case:O(n2)Average case:O(nlogn)

Fig. F.4 | Searching and sorting algorithms withBig O values.

nApproximatedecimal value O(logn) O(n) O(nlogn) O(n2)

210 1000 10 210 10 210 220

220 1,000,000 20 220 20 220 240

230 1,000,000,000 30 230 30 230 260

Fig. F.5 | Approximate number of comparisons for common Big O notations.

SummarySection F.1 Introduction Sorting involves arranging data into order.

Section F.2 Big O Notation One way to describe the efficiency of an algorithm is with Big O notation (O), which indicates

how hard an algorithm may have to work to solve a problem.

For searching and sorting algorithms, Big O describes how the amount of effort of a particularalgorithm varies, depending on how many elements are in the data.

An algorithm that isO(1) is said to have a constant run time. This does not mean that the algo-rithm requires only one comparison. It just means that the number of comparisons does not growas the size of the array increases.



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LXXIV Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

AnO(n) algorithm is referred to as having a linear run time.

Big O is designed to highlight dominant factors and ignore terms that become unimportant withhigh values ofn.

Big O notation is concerned with the growth rate of algorithm run times, so constants are ignored.

Section F.3 Selection Sort Selection sort is a simple, but inefficient, sorting algorithm.

The first iteration of selection sort selects the smallest element in the array and swaps it with thefirst element. The second iteration of selection sort selects the second-smallest element (which isthe smallest of those remaining) and swaps it with the second element. Selection sort continuesuntil the last iteration selects the second-largest element and swaps it with the second-to-last,leaving the largest element as the last. At the ith iteration of selection sort, the smallest ielementsof the whole array are sorted into the firstipositions of the array.

The selection sort algorithm runs inO(n2) time.

Section F.4 Insertion Sort The first iteration of insertion sort takes the second element in the array and, if it is less than thefirst element, swaps it with the first element. The second iteration of insertion sort looks at thethird element and inserts it in the correct position with respect to the first two elements. Aftertheith iteration of insertion sort, the firstielements in the original array are sorted. Onlyn 1iterations are required.

The insertion sort algorithm runs inO(n2) time.

Section F.5 Merge Sort Merge sort is a sorting algorithm that is faster, but more complex to implement, than selection

sort and insertion sort.

The merge sort algorithm sorts a array by splitting the array into two equal-sized subarrays, sort-ing each subarray and merging the subarrays into one larger array.

Merge sorts base case is an array with one element, which is already sorted, so merge sort imme-diately returns when it is called with a one-element array. The merge part of merge sort takes twosorted arrays (these could be one-element arrays) and combines them into one larger sorted array.

Merge sort performs the merge by looking at the first element in each array, which is also thesmallest element. Merge sort takes the smallest of these and places it in the first element of thelarger, sorted array. If there are still elements in the subarray, merge sort looks at the second ele-ment in that subarray (which is now the smallest element remaining) and compares it to the firstelement in the other subarray. Merge sort continues this process until the larger array is filled.

In the worst case, the first call to merge sort has to makeO(n) comparisons to fill then slots in

the final array. The merging portion of the merge sort algorithm is performed on two subarrays, each of approx-

imately sizen/2. Creating each of these subarrays requiresn/21 comparisons for each subarray,orO(n) comparisons total. This pattern continues, as each level works on twice as many arrays,but each is half the size of the previous array.

This halving results in logn levels, each level requiringO(n) comparisons, for a total efficiencyofO(nlogn), which is far more efficient thanO(n2).

Terminology

Big O notation LIX

constant run time LIX

insertion sort algorithm LXIV

linear run time LIX



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LXXVI Appendix F Sorting: A Deeper Look

The algorithm is as follows:a) Loop through the single-subscripted array and place each of its values in a row of the

bucket array based on its ones digit. For example, 97 is placed in row 7, 3 is placed inrow 3 and 100 is placed in row 0.

b) Loop through the bucket array and copy the values back to the original array. The neworder of the above values in the single-subscripted array is 100, 3 and 97.

c) Repeat this process for each subsequent digit position (tens, hundreds, thousands, andso on) and stop when the leftmost digit of the largest number has been processed.

On the second pass of the array, 100 is placed in row 0, 3 is placed in row 0 (it had only one digitso we treat it as 03) and 97 is placed in row 9. The order of the values in the single-subscriptedarray is 100, 3 and 97. On the third pass, 100 is placed in row 1, 3 (003) is placed in row zero and97 (097) is placed in row zero (after 3). The bucket sort is guaranteed to have all the values prop-erly sorted after processing the leftmost digit of the largest number. The bucket sort knows it isdone when all the values are copied into row zero of the double-subscripted array.

The double-subscripted array of buckets is ten times the size of the integer array being sorted.This sorting technique provides far better performance than a bubble sort but requires much largerstorage capacity. Bubble sort requires only one additional memory location for the type of databeing sorted. Bucket sort is an example of a space-time trade-off. It uses more memory but per-forms better. This version of the bucket sort requires copying all the data back to the original arrayon each pass. Another possibility is to create a second double-subscripted bucket array andrepeatedly move the data between the two bucket arrays until all the data is copied into row zero ofone of the arrays. Row zero then contains the sorted array.

F.7 (Quicksort)In the examples and exercises of Chapter 6, we discussed the sorting techniquesbubble sort, bucket sort and selection sort. We now present the recursive sorting technique calledQuicksort. The basic algorithm for a single-subscripted array of values is as follows:

a) Partitioning Step:Take the first element of the unsorted array and determine its final lo-cation in the sorted array (i.e., all values to the left of the element in the array are lessthan the element, and all values to the right of the element in the array are greater thanthe element). We now have one element in its proper location and two unsorted subar-rays.

b) Recursive Step:PerformStep aon each unsorted subarray.

Each timeStep ais performed on a subarray, another element is placed in its final location of thesorted array, and two unsorted subarrays are created. When a subarray consists of one element, itmust be sorted; therefore, that element is in its final location.

The basic algorithm seems simple enough, but how do we determine the final position of thefirst element of each subarray? As an example, consider the following set of values (the element inbold is the partitioning elementit will be placed in its final location in the sorted array):

37 2 6 4 89 8 10 12 68 45

a) Starting from the rightmost element of the array, compare each element with 37 untilan element less than 37is found. Then swap 37and that element. The first element lessthan 37 is 12, so 37 and 12 are swapped. The new array is

12 2 6 4 89 8 10 37 68 45

Element 12 is in italic to indicate that it was just swapped with37.b) Starting from the left of the array, but beginning with the element after 12, compare

each element with 37until an element greater than 37 is found. Then swap 37and thatelement. The first element greater than 37is 89, so 37and 89are swapped. The new ar-ray is

12 2 6 4 37 8 10 89 68 45



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Exercises LXXVII

c) Starting from the right, but beginning with the element before 89, compare each ele-ment with 37until an element less than 37is found. Then swap 37 and that element.The first element less than 37 is 10, so 37 and 10 are swapped. The new array is

12 2 6 4 10 8 37 89 68 45

d) Starting from the left, but beginning with the element after10, compare each elementwith 37 until an element greater than 37 is found. Then swap 37 and that element.There are no more elements greater than 37, so when we compare 37 with itself, weknow that 37 has been placed in its final location in the sorted array.

Once the partition has been applied to the array, there are two unsorted subarrays. The subarraywith values less than 37contains 12, 2,6,4,10and 8. The subarray with values greater than 37 con-tains 89, 68and 45. The sort continues by partitioning both subarrays in the same manner as theoriginal array.

Write recursive function quicksort to sort a single-subscripted integer array. The functionshould receive as arguments an integer array, a starting subscript and an ending subscript. Functionpartitionshould be called by quicksortto perform the partitioning step.

appendix f - sorting- a deeper look

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