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Sorting a set of unlabelled weights by weight using only a balance scale requires a comparison sort algorithm. A comparison sort is a type of sorting algorithm that only reads the list elements through a single abstract comparison operation (often a "less than or equal to" operator or a three-way comparison) that determines which of two elements should occur first in the final sorted list.
In a formula, if the top wire carries x and the bottom wire carries y, then after hitting a comparator the wires carry ′ = (,) and ′ = (,), respectively, so the pair of values is sorted. [ 5 ] : 635 A network of wires and comparators that will correctly sort all possible inputs into ascending order is called a sorting network or Kruskal hub.
For example, in Java, any class that implements the Comparable interface has a compareTo method which either returns a negative integer, zero, or a positive integer, or throws a NullPointerException (if one or both objects are null). Similarly, in the .NET framework, any class that implements the IComparable interface has such a CompareTo method.
To compare things, they must have characteristics that are similar enough in relevant ways to merit comparison. If two things are too different to compare in a useful way, an attempt to compare them is colloquially referred to in English as "comparing apples and oranges." Comparison is widely used in society, in science and the arts.
For example the symbol ">" could imply greater than, better than, ahead of, higher than, etc. Often, a distance (for comparison) is calculated by subtraction (in some metric space), but comparison can be based on arbitrary orderings that don't support subtraction or the notion of distance.
For an example from Java's standard library, java.util.Collections.sort() takes a List and a functor whose role is to compare objects in the List. Without first-class functions, the function is part of the Comparator interface. This could be used as follows.
List comprehension is a syntactic construct available in some programming languages for creating a list based on existing lists. It follows the form of the mathematical set-builder notation (set comprehension) as distinct from the use of map and filter functions.
For example, an election protocol can be implemented such that every process checks the result of compare_and_swap against its own PID (= newval). The winning process finds the compare_and_swap returning the initial non-PID value (e.g., zero). For the losers it will return the winning PID.