Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Sorting algorithms are prevalent in introductory computer science classes, where the abundance of algorithms for the problem provides a gentle introduction to a variety of core algorithm concepts, such as big O notation, divide-and-conquer algorithms, data structures such as heaps and binary trees, randomized algorithms, best, worst and average ...
Such a component or property is called a sort key. For example, the items are books, the sort key is the title, subject or author, and the order is alphabetical. A new sort key can be created from two or more sort keys by lexicographical order. The first is then called the primary sort key, the second the secondary sort key, etc.
Sorted arrays are the most space-efficient data structure with the best locality of reference for sequentially stored data. [citation needed]Elements within a sorted array are found using a binary search, in O(log n); thus sorted arrays are suited for cases when one needs to be able to look up elements quickly, e.g. as a set or multiset data structure.
It combines the speed of insertion sort on small data sets with the speed of merge sort on large data sets. [ 8 ] To avoid having to make a series of swaps for each insertion, the input could be stored in a linked list , which allows elements to be spliced into or out of the list in constant time when the position in the list is known.
The heapsort algorithm can be divided into two phases: heap construction, and heap extraction. The heap is an implicit data structure which takes no space beyond the array of objects to be sorted; the array is interpreted as a complete binary tree where each array element is a node and each node's parent and child links are defined by simple arithmetic on the array indexes.
A bidirectional variant of selection sort (called double selection sort or sometimes cocktail sort due to its similarity to cocktail shaker sort) finds both the minimum and maximum values in the list in every pass. This requires three comparisons per two items (a pair of elements is compared, then the greater is compared to the maximum and the ...
Lexicographic sorting of a set of string keys can be implemented by building a trie for the given keys and traversing the tree in pre-order fashion; [26] this is also a form of radix sort. [27] Tries are also fundamental data structures for burstsort, which is notable for being the fastest string sorting algorithm as of 2007, [28] accomplished ...
The Postman's sort is a variant of bucket sort that takes advantage of a hierarchical structure of elements, typically described by a set of attributes. This is the algorithm used by letter-sorting machines in post offices : mail is sorted first between domestic and international; then by state, province or territory; then by destination post ...