Algorithms, 4th Edition

Two. Sorting

2.1 Elementary Sorts 244

2.2 Mergesort 270

2.3 Quicksort 288

2.4 Priority Queues 308

2.5 Applications 336

Sorting is the process of rearranging a sequence of objects so as to put them in some logical order. For example, your credit card bill presents transactions in order by date—they were likely put into that order by a sorting algorithm. In the early days of computing, the common wisdom was that up to 30 percent of all computing cycles was spent sorting. If that fraction is lower today, one likely reason is that sorting algorithms are relatively efficient, not that sorting has diminished in relative importance. Indeed, the ubiquity of computer usage has put us awash in data, and the first step to organizing data is often ...