Question

give a good explanation of Bubble sort, Insertion sort, Selection sort, and Quicksort.

Answer 1

Bubble sort is a simple sorting algorithm. This sorting algorithm is comparison-based algorithm in which each pair of adjacent elements is compared and the elements are swapped if they are not in order. This algorithm is not suitable for large data sets as its average and worst case complexity are of Ο(n²) where n is the number of items.

How Bubble Sort Works?

We take an unsorted array for our example. Bubble sort takes Ο(n²) time so we're keeping it short and precise.

Bubble sort starts with very first two elements, comparing them to check which one is greater.

In this case, value 33 is greater than 14, so it is already in sorted locations. Next, we compare 33 with 27.

We find that 27 is smaller than 33 and these two values must be swapped.

The new array should look like this −

Next we compare 33 and 35. We find that both are in already sorted positions.

Then we move to the next two values, 35 and 10.

We know then that 10 is smaller 35. Hence they are not sorted.

We swap these values. We find that we have reached the end of the array. After one iteration, the array should look like this −

To be precise, we are now showing how an array should look like after each iteration. After the second iteration, it should look like this −

Notice that after each iteration, at least one value moves at the end.

And when there's no swap required, bubble sorts learns that an array is completely sorted.

Now we should look into some practical aspects of bubble sort.

Algorithm

We assume list is an array of n elements. We further assume that swap function swaps the values of the given array elements.

begin BubbleSort(list)

   for all elements of list
      if list[i] > list[i+1]
         swap(list[i], list[i+1])
      end if
   end for
   
   return list
   
end BubbleSort

Pseudocode

We observe in algorithm that Bubble Sort compares each pair of array element unless the whole array is completely sorted in an ascending order. This may cause a few complexity issues like what if the array needs no more swapping as all the elements are already ascending.

To ease-out the issue, we use one flag variable swapped which will help us see if any swap has happened or not. If no swap has occurred, i.e. the array requires no more processing to be sorted, it will come out of the loop.

Pseudocode of BubbleSort algorithm can be written as follows −

procedure bubbleSort( list : array of items )

   loop = list.count;
   
   for i = 0 to loop-1 do:
      swapped = false
                
      for j = 0 to loop-1 do:
      
         /* compare the adjacent elements */   
         if list[j] > list[j+1] then
            /* swap them */
            swap( list[j], list[j+1] )           
            swapped = true
         end if
         
      end for
      
      /*if no number was swapped that means 
      array is sorted now, break the loop.*/
      
      if(not swapped) then
         break
      end if
      
   end for
   
end procedure return list

Implementation

One more issue we did not address in our original algorithm and its improvised pseudocode, is that, after every iteration the highest values settles down at the end of the array. Hence, the next iteration need not include already sorted elements. For this purpose, in our implementation, we restrict the inner loop to avoid already sorted values.

This is an in-place comparison-based sorting algorithm. Here, a sub-list is maintained which is always sorted. For example, the lower part of an array is maintained to be sorted. An element which is to be 'insert'ed in this sorted sub-list, has to find its appropriate place and then it has to be inserted there. Hence the name, insertion sort.

The array is searched sequentially and unsorted items are moved and inserted into the sorted sub-list (in the same array). This algorithm is not suitable for large data sets as its average and worst case complexity are of Ο(n²), where n is the number of items.

How Insertion Sort Works?

We take an unsorted array for our example.

Insertion sort compares the first two elements.

It finds that both 14 and 33 are already in ascending order. For now, 14 is in sorted sub-list.

Insertion sort moves ahead and compares 33 with 27.

And finds that 33 is not in the correct position.

It swaps 33 with 27. It also checks with all the elements of sorted sub-list. Here we see that the sorted sub-list has only one element 14, and 27 is greater than 14. Hence, the sorted sub-list remains sorted after swapping.

By now we have 14 and 27 in the sorted sub-list. Next, it compares 33 with 10.

These values are not in a sorted order.

So we swap them.

However, swapping makes 27 and 10 unsorted.

Hence, we swap them too.

Again we find 14 and 10 in an unsorted order.

We swap them again. By the end of third iteration, we have a sorted sub-list of 4 items.

This process goes on until all the unsorted values are covered in a sorted sub-list. Now we shall see some programming aspects of insertion sort.

Algorithm

Now we have a bigger picture of how this sorting technique works, so we can derive simple steps by which we can achieve insertion sort.

Step 1 − If it is the first element, it is already sorted. return 1;
Step 2 − Pick next element
Step 3 − Compare with all elements in the sorted sub-list
Step 4 − Shift all the elements in the sorted sub-list that is greater than the 
         value to be sorted
Step 5 − Insert the value
Step 6 − Repeat until list is sorted

Pseudocode

procedure insertionSort( A : array of items )
   int holePosition
   int valueToInsert
        
   for i = 1 to length(A) inclusive do:
        
      /* select value to be inserted */
      valueToInsert = A[i]
      holePosition = i
      
      /*locate hole position for the element to be inserted */
                
      while holePosition > 0 and A[holePosition-1] > valueToInsert do:
         A[holePosition] = A[holePosition-1]
         holePosition = holePosition -1
      end while
                
      /* insert the number at hole position */
      A[holePosition] = valueToInsert
      
   end for
        
end procedure

Selection sort is a simple sorting algorithm. This sorting algorithm is an in-place comparison-based algorithm in which the list is divided into two parts, the sorted part at the left end and the unsorted part at the right end. Initially, the sorted part is empty and the unsorted part is the entire list.

The smallest element is selected from the unsorted array and swapped with the leftmost element, and that element becomes a part of the sorted array. This process continues moving unsorted array boundary by one element to the right.

This algorithm is not suitable for large data sets as its average and worst case complexities are of Ο(n²), where n is the number of items.

How Selection Sort Works?

Consider the following depicted array as an example.

For the first position in the sorted list, the whole list is scanned sequentially. The first position where 14 is stored presently, we search the whole list and find that 10 is the lowest value.

So we replace 14 with 10. After one iteration 10, which happens to be the minimum value in the list, appears in the first position of the sorted list.

For the second position, where 33 is residing, we start scanning the rest of the list in a linear manner.

We find that 14 is the second lowest value in the list and it should appear at the second place. We swap these values.

After two iterations, two least values are positioned at the beginning in a sorted manner.

The same process is applied to the rest of the items in the array.

Following is a pictorial depiction of the entire sorting process −

Now, let us learn some programming aspects of selection sort.

Algorithm

Step 1 − Set MIN to location 0
Step 2 − Search the minimum element in the list
Step 3 − Swap with value at location MIN
Step 4 − Increment MIN to point to next element
Step 5 − Repeat until list is sorted

Pseudocode

procedure selection sort 
   list  : array of items
   n     : size of list

   for i = 1 to n - 1
   /* set current element as minimum*/
      min = i    
  
      /* check the element to be minimum */

      for j = i+1 to n 
         if list[j] < list[min] then
            min = j;
         end if
      end for

      /* swap the minimum element with the current element*/
      if indexMin != i  then
         swap list[min] and list[i]
      end if
   end for
        
end procedure

Quick sort is a highly efficient sorting algorithm and is based on partitioning of array of data into smaller arrays. A large array is partitioned into two arrays one of which holds values smaller than the specified value, say pivot, based on which the partition is made and another array holds values greater than the pivot value.

Quicksort partitions an array and then calls itself recursively twice to sort the two resulting subarrays. This algorithm is quite efficient for large-sized data sets as its average and worst-case complexity are O(nLogn) and image.png(n²), respectively.

Partition in Quick Sort

Following animated representation explains how to find the pivot value in an array.

The pivot value divides the list into two parts. And recursively, we find the pivot for each sub-lists until all lists contains only one element.

Quick Sort Pivot Algorithm

Based on our understanding of partitioning in quick sort, we will now try to write an algorithm for it, which is as follows.

Step 1 − Choose the highest index value has pivot
Step 2 − Take two variables to point left and right of the list excluding pivot
Step 3 − left points to the low index
Step 4 − right points to the high
Step 5 − while value at left is less than pivot move right
Step 6 − while value at right is greater than pivot move left
Step 7 − if both step 5 and step 6 does not match swap left and right
Step 8 − if left ≥ right, the point where they met is new pivot

Quick Sort Pivot Pseudocode

The pseudocode for the above algorithm can be derived as −

function partitionFunc(left, right, pivot)
   leftPointer = left
   rightPointer = right - 1

   while True do
      while A[++leftPointer] < pivot do
         //do-nothing            
      end while
                
      while rightPointer > 0 && A[--rightPointer] > pivot do
         //do-nothing         
      end while
                
      if leftPointer >= rightPointer
         break
      else                
         swap leftPointer,rightPointer
      end if
                
   end while 
        
   swap leftPointer,right
   return leftPointer
        
end function

Quick Sort Algorithm

Using pivot algorithm recursively, we end up with smaller possible partitions. Each partition is then processed for quick sort. We define recursive algorithm for quicksort as follows −

Step 1 − Make the right-most index value pivot
Step 2 − partition the array using pivot value
Step 3 − quicksort left partition recursively
Step 4 − quicksort right partition recursively

Quick Sort Pseudocode

To get more into it, let see the pseudocode for quick sort algorithm −

procedure quickSort(left, right)

   if right-left <= 0
      return
   else     
      pivot = A[right]
      partition = partitionFunc(left, right, pivot)
      quickSort(left,partition-1)
      quickSort(partition+1,right)    
   end if               
   
end procedure