Sorting (for example the act of putting an unsorted list of numbers into ascending order) is a fundamental food of the computer science diet.

There are many different algorithms for sorting, and an understanding of their similarities and differences can give you a good understanding of some properties of all algorithms.

Concepts you will learn about include:

• Big O Notation
• Memory constraints
• Time constraints
• Serial versus Parallel
• Data structures
• Function reuse

Each of those topics are giants in the world of programming, and pop up all over the place.

List of Sorting Algorithms

(This list is deliberately unsorted)

• Bubble Sort
• Insertion Sort
• Heap Sort
• Merge Sort
• Quicksort
• Bogosort

External Links

• Wikipedia: Insertion Sort
• Wikipedia: Heap Sort
• Wikipedia: Merge Sort
• Wikipedia: Quicksort
• Wikipedia: Bogosort
• An Introduction to Sorting Algorithms

See Also

• Bubble Sort