10/11/2018 Data Structures and Algorithms Bubble Sort
DATA STRUCTURE - BUBBLE SORT ALGORITHM
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Bubble sort is a simple sorting algorithm. This sorting algorithm is comparison-based algorithm in which each pair of adjacent elements
is compared and the elements are swapped if they are not in order. This algorithm is not suitable for large data sets as its average and
worst case complexity are of Ο(n2) where n is the number of items.
How Bubble Sort Works?
We take an unsorted array for our example. Bubble sort takes Ο(n2) time so we're keeping it short and precise.
Bubble sort starts with very first two elements, comparing them to check which one is greater.
In this case, value 33 is greater than 14, so it is already in sorted locations. Next, we compare 33 with 27.
We find that 27 is smaller than 33 and these two values must be swapped.
The new array should look like this −
Next we compare 33 and 35. We find that both are in already sorted positions.
Then we move to the next two values, 35 and 10.
We know then that 10 is smaller 35. Hence they are not sorted.
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10/11/2018 Data Structures and Algorithms Bubble Sort
We swap these values. We find that we have reached the end of the array. After one iteration, the array should look like this −
To be precise, we are now showing how an array should look like after each iteration. After the second iteration, it should look like this −
Notice that after each iteration, at least one value moves at the end.
And when there's no swap required, bubble sorts learns that an array is completely sorted.
Now we should look into some practical aspects of bubble sort.
Algorithm
We assume list is an array of n elements. We further assume that swap function swaps the values of the given array elements.
begin BubbleSort(list)
for all elements of list
if list[i] > list[i+1]
swap(list[i], list[i+1])
end if
end for
return list
end BubbleSort
Pseudocode
We observe in algorithm that Bubble Sort compares each pair of array element unless the whole array is completely sorted in an
ascending order. This may cause a few complexity issues like what if the array needs no more swapping as all the elements are already
ascending.
To ease-out the issue, we use one flag variable swapped which will help us see if any swap has happened or not. If no swap has
occurred, i.e. the array requires no more processing to be sorted, it will come out of the loop.
Pseudocode of BubbleSort algorithm can be written as follows −
procedure bubbleSort( list : array of items )
loop = list.count;
for i = 0 to loop-1 do:
swapped = false
for j = 0 to loop-1 do:
/* compare the adjacent elements */
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10/11/2018 Data Structures and Algorithms Bubble Sort
if list[j] > list[j+1] then
/* swap them */
swap( list[j], list[j+1] )
swapped = true
end if
end for
/*if no number was swapped that means
array is sorted now, break the loop.*/
if(not swapped) then
break
end if
end for
end procedure return list
Implementation
One more issue we did not address in our original algorithm and its improvised pseudocode, is that, after every iteration the highest
values settles down at the end of the array. Hence, the next iteration need not include already sorted elements. For this purpose, in our
implementation, we restrict the inner loop to avoid already sorted values.
To know about bubble sort implementation in C programming language, please click here.
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