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ยท 3 min read

Nearly every standard library offers data structures that can be sorted without really thinking about it. Still, it might come in handy to know about commonly used sorting algorithms or even implement some of them yourself as an exercise. After all, most sorting algorithms make heavy use of array indexing and recursion, and for this reason alone, they are often used as a medium to learn about and apply these concepts.

Even though sorting algorithms can be categorized by just a handful of different methods, there are hundreds of variations out there. Some algorithms are more efficient than others. You can compare their efficiency by both time complexity and memory consumption. It is worth noting that some sorting algorithms may perform worse in certain situations while, on average, they perform better than others. Finally, a stable sorting algorithm is expected to preserve the order of elements considered to be equal.

As you can tell, choosing the right sorting algorithm may not always be so easy. For this reason, I have compiled the following list, including implementation details for future reference:

NameBest
Average
Worst
MemoryStableMethodVisualization
Quicksortnlogโกnn \log n
nlogโกnn \log n
n2n^2
logโกn\log nNoPartitioning
Merge sortnlogโกnn \log n
nlogโกnn \log n
nlogโกnn \log n
nnYesMerging
Heapsortnlogโกnn \log n
nlogโกnn \log n
nlogโกnn \log n
1NoSelection
Insertion sortnn
n2n^2
n2n^2
1YesInsertion
Selection sortn2n^2
n2n^2
n2n^2
1NoSelection
Shellsortnlogโกnn \log n
n43n^{4 \over 3}
n32n^{3 \over 2}
1NoInsertion
Bubble sortnn
n2n^2
n2n^2
1YesExchanging

Further readingโ€‹

ยท One min read

The snow begins to melt and flowering plants are about to bloom.

This is your time to get creative! ๐Ÿ‘€

Implement a spring-themed sketch, join Discord and share your result in #general within March 21st and June 21st. At the end of the event all submissions will be collected in a separate blog post on this website and we will do a vote. The submission with the highest number of votes wins ๐Ÿ†.

Have fun and good luck! ๐Ÿ˜Š

ยท One min read
  • fix bug in JavaScript binding that prevented drawing buffer from being preserved
  • add more JavaScript examples