Python Data Structures and Algorithms

Pivot selection

For the sake of simplicity, we'll take the first element in any array as the pivot. This kind of pivot selection degrades in performance, especially when sorting an already sorted list. Randomly picking the middle or last element in the array as the pivot does not improve the situation any further. In the next chapter, we will adopt a better approach to selecting the pivot in order to help us find the smallest element in a list.