SORTING - DIFFERENT SORTING

SCHEMES
Sorting refers to arranging data in a particular format. Sorting algorithm specifies the way to
arrange data in a particular order. Most common orders are in numerical and lexicographical
order.

The important soring lies in the fact that data searching can be optimized to a very high level if
data is stored in a sorted manner. Sorting is also used to present data in more readable formats.
Following are some of the examples of sorting in real-life scenarios:

Telephone Directory – The telephone directory stores the telephone number of people sorted by
their names, so that the names can be searched easily.

Dictionary – The dictionary stores words in alphabetical order so that searching for any word
becomes easy.

In-placing Sorting and Not-in-place Sorting

Sorting algorithms may require some extra space for comparison and temporary storage of a few
data elements. These algorithms do not require any extra space and sorting is said to happen in-
place, or for example, with the array itself. This is called in-place sorting. Bubble sort is an example
of in-place sorting.

However, In some sorting algorithms, the program requires space which is more than or equal to
the elements being sorted. Sorting which uses equal or more space is called not-in-place sorting.
Merge sort is an example of not-in-place sorting.

Stable and Not Stable Sorting

If a sorting algorithm, after sorting the contents, does not change the sequence of similar
content in which they appear, it is called stable sorting.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

35 33 42 10 14 19 26 44 26 31
10 14 19 26 26 31 33 35 42 44

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

If a sorting algorithm, after sorting the contents, changes the sequence of similar content in which
they appear, it is called unstable sorting.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

35 33 42 10 14 19 26 44 26 31

35 33 42 10 14 19 26 44 26 31

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Adaptive and Non-Adaptive Sorting Algorithm

A sorting algorithm is said to be adaptive. If it takes advantage of already ‘sorted’ elements in the
list that is to be sorted. This is while sorting if the source list has some element already sorted,
adaptive algorithms will take this into account and will try not to re-order them.

A non-adaptive algorithm is one which does not take into account the elements which are already
sorted. They try to force every single element to be re-ordered to confirm their sortedness.

Increasing Order

A sequence of values is said to be in increasing order if the successive element is greater than the
previous one. For example 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 are in increasing order, as every next element is greater
than the previous element.

Decreasing Order

A sequence of value is said to be in decreasing order if the successive element is less than the
current one. For example, 9, 8, 6, 4, 3, 1 are in decreasing order, as every next element is less than
the previous element.

Non-Increasing Order
A sequence of values is said to be in non-increasing order if the successive element is less than or
equal to its previous element in the sequence. This order occurs when the sequence contains
duplicate values. For example, 9, 8, 6, 3, 3, 1 are in non-increasing order, as every next element is
less than or equal to(in case of 3) but not greater than any previous element.

Non-Decreasing Order

A sequence of values is said to be in non-decreasing order if the successive element is greater than
or equal to its previous element in the sequence. This order occurs when the sequence contains
duplicate values. For example, 1, 3, 3, 6, 8, 9 are in non-decreasing order, as every next element is
greater than or equal to (in case of 3) but not less than the previous one.

BUBBLE SORT
Bubble sort may be defined as the sorting algorithm that follows the approach of replacing the
value in the first index with the smallest value in the array and keep it repeating until the list is
sorted. It is a very simple way of performing sorting. In this way to sort the array, the value has to
be assigned to the array in the beginning before starting the sorting.

The first smallest value found in the array has been moved to the first index of the array and then
the search begins again to find the other smallest number. Once the next smallest number is
found, it replaces the value in the second index and the process keeps on repeating until the array
consists of a sorted list of values.

INSERTION SORT
Insertion sort picks elements one by one and places it to the right position where it belongs in the
sorted list of elements. A simple sorting algorithm that works the way we sort playing cards in our
hands.

SELECTION SORT
Selection sort may be defined as another algorithm
for sorting the list in which the array is bifurcated into
two arrays where the first array is supposed to be
empty while the second array consists of the
unsorted list of values. The program searches for the
smallest values in the second array and when the
value is found, it has been moved to the beginning of
the first array that was empty. The approach is
repeated again and the next smallest values will be
shifted to the second index of the first array. The processes will keep on repeating until the second
array became empty.

The processes will be repeated until the first list is full of the sorted list. Meanwhile, the programs
keep its primary focus to check if the second array is having value and if it is found positive, the
program runs the sorting algorithm again. Though it sorts the list in an easy manner, it may take a
bit more time as compared to the other algorithms. But by the end, the result it will generate will
be the same as the other sorting algorithms.

MERGE SORT
Merge sort may be defined as another sorting algorithm that performs the sorting by segregating
the array till last when it turns into an individual value and then aggregating them in a manner so
that it could turn into a sorted array.

The process consumes a bit much time as compared to the other rival algorithms but it is
considered pretty efficient as compared to others. When it comes to sorting a large list, this
algorithm works very fine and hence preferred in developing the application that has to process
the large list.
QUICK SORT
Quick sort can be defined as the other algorithm for sorting the list in which the approach is to
divide the array in terms of greater than and less than values until the entire values if divided into
individuals forms. In this algorithm, the value of the last index of the array has been selected as a
pivot and all the values smaller than pivot has been shifted to the array that is expected to occur in
the left of the value and the elements having a higher value than the pivot are shifted to the right
array. Again one pivot is selected from the newly formed array that had the values less than the
last pivot value. Similarly, the values smaller than the new pivot will be shifted to the array that
will be left and the values more than the new pivot will be shifted in the right array.

Quicksort is the only algorithm that leads to dividing the array until all the values are separated
into the individual arrays. They will be then added or aggregated in a single array which is
considered as the sorted list.

HEAP SORT
Heap sort can be defined as the sorting algorithm that works by searching the maximum element
in the list and place it to the last. The algorithm performs the action recursively until the array gets
sorted into the ascending way.

It is very time taking the process to choose the maximum value and move it to the last and hence it
is considered as a less efficient sorting approach when it comes to sorting the large list. However,
it works fine with the list that has a limited number of values.

STACK ADT
STACK

It is an ordered group of homogeneous items of elements.

Elements are added to and removed from the top of the stack (the most recently added items are
at the top of the stack). The last element to be added is the first to be removed (LIFO: Last In, First
Out).

HOW STACKS ARE USED?

Stacks can be applied in our daily life. Imagine a working day in the office and you are working
on a long-term project then your manager gives you a new important task. You put aside the
long-term project and start working on the new task given to you. Suddenly, the phone rings
and you answer it, making it the top priority other than the long-term priority and the new task.
Now if you are done with the phone call, your top priority will be now the new task because
answering the call is now discarded from the list of your work.
APPLICATIONS OF STACK ADT

Direct Applications

• Balancing of symbols
• Infix-to-postfix conversion
• Evaluation of postfix conversion
• Implementing function calls (including recursion)
• Finding of spans (finding spans in stock markets)
• Page-visited history in a Web browser (Back Buttons)
• Undo sequence in a text editor
• Matching tags in HTML and XML

Indirect Applications

• Auxiliary data structure for other algorithms

• Component of other data structures

IMPLEMENTATION OF STACK ADT

These are the methods of implementing stack ADT:

Simple Array Implementation

It uses an array then add elements from left to right and use a variable to keep track of the
index of the top element. A push operation will then throw a full stack exception and deleting an
element from an empty stack it will throw stack empty exception.

Dynamic Array Implementation

Took one index variable top which points to the index of the most recently inserted element
in the stack. To push an element, increment top index and then place the new element at that
index. To pop an element, take the element at top index and then decrement the top index.

Linked List Implementation

Push operation is implemented by inserting element at the beginning of the list. Pop operation is
implemented by deleting the node from the beginning.

QUEUES ADT
HOW QUEUE ARE USED?

The application of queue in the real world can be the same as the concept of “first-come-first-
serve”. When we are falling in the line, the very first person in the line gets the service first while
the others will have to wait for their turn.
APPLICATIONS OF QUEUE ADT

Direct Applications

• Operating system schedule jobs in the order of arrival

• Simulation of real-world queues
• Multiprogramming
• Asynchronous data transfer
• Waiting times of customers at call center
• Determining number of cashiers to have at supermarket

Indirect Applications

• Auxiliary data structure for algorithms

• Component of other data structures

IMPLEMENTATION OF QUEUE ADT

Simple circular array-based implementation, dynamic circular array-based implementation, and

link list implementation – these are the ways of implementing queue operations or most
commonly used methods.