WEEK 6

COURSE CODE: IT 221

TITLE: DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHMS
TARGET POPULATION: SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AND IRREGULAR STUDENTS
INSTRUCTOR: CEDIE E. GABRIEL

OVERVIEW
Is not the main objective to present you with the theorems and proofs on data structures
and algorithms. We have followed a pattern of improving the problem solutions with
different complexities (for each problem, you will find multiple solutions with different,
and reduced, complexities). Basically, it’s an enumeration of possible solutions. With
this approach, even if you get a new question, it will show you a way to think about the
possible solutions. You will find these topics useful for interview preparation, competitive
exams preparation, and campus interview preparations.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the Sorting Techniques;
2. Design algorithms that operate on different sorting;
3. Compare the efficiencies of algorithms that implement list operations using
sorting techniques;
4. Discuss some problems and solutions when implementing sorting ;

INTRODUCTION TO THE LEARNERS

An appropriate data structure must be chosen to represent the data and the
relationships among data. A linked structure results when the data are made to point to
other data to show relationship. The linked list is a linked structure for data that are
sequenced one after another. It is an alternative to an array to store items sequentially.
 WEEK 5
SORTING TECHNIQUES

Sorting refers to arranging data in a particular format. Sorting algorithm specifies the
way to arrange data in a particular order. Most common orders are in numerical or
lexicographical order.
The importance of sorting lies in the fact that data searching can be optimized to a very
high level, if data is stored in a sorted manner. Sorting is also used to represent data in
more readable formats. Following are some of the examples of sorting in real-life
scenarios –
 Telephone Directory − The telephone directory stores the telephone numbers of
people sorted by their names, so that the names can be searched easily.
 Dictionary − The dictionary stores words in an alphabetical order so that
searching of any word becomes easy.

In-place Sorting and Not-in-place Sorting

Sorting algorithms may require some extra space for comparison and temporary
storage of few data elements. These algorithms do not require any extra space and
sorting is said to happen in-place, or for example, within the array itself. This is
called in-place sorting. Bubble sort is an example of in-place sorting.
However, in some sorting algorithms, the program requires space which is more than or
equal to the elements being sorted. Sorting which uses equal or more space is
called not-in-place sorting. Merge-sort is an example of not-in-place sorting.

Stable and Not Stable Sorting

If a sorting algorithm, after sorting the contents, does not change the sequence of
similar content in which they appear, it is called stable sorting.
If a sorting algorithm, after sorting the contents, changes the sequence of similar
content in which they appear, it is called unstable sorting.

Stability of an algorithm matters when we wish to maintain the sequence of original

elements, like in a tuple for example.

Adaptive and Non-Adaptive Sorting Algorithm

A sorting algorithm is said to be adaptive, if it takes advantage of already 'sorted'
elements in the list that is to be sorted. That is, while sorting if the source list has some
element already sorted, adaptive algorithms will take this into account and will try not to
re-order them.
A non-adaptive algorithm is one which does not take into account the elements which
are already sorted. They try to force every single element to be re-ordered to confirm
their sortedness.

Important Terms
Some terms are generally coined while discussing sorting techniques, here is a brief
introduction to them −
Increasing Order
A sequence of values is said to be in increasing order, if the successive element is
greater than the previous one. For example, 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 are in increasing order, as
every next element is greater than the previous element.
Decreasing Order
A sequence of values is said to be in decreasing order, if the successive element is
less than the current one. For example, 9, 8, 6, 4, 3, 1 are in decreasing order, as every
next element is less than the previous element.
Non-Increasing Order
A sequence of values is said to be in non-increasing order, if the successive element
is less than or equal to its previous element in the sequence. This order occurs when
the sequence contains duplicate values. For example, 9, 8, 6, 3, 3, 1 are in non-
increasing order, as every next element is less than or equal to (in case of 3) but not
greater than any previous element.
Non-Decreasing Order
A sequence of values is said to be in non-decreasing order, if the successive element
is greater than or equal to its previous element in the sequence. This order occurs when
the sequence contains duplicate values. For example, 1, 3, 3, 6, 8, 9 are in non-
decreasing order, as every next element is greater than or equal to (in case of 3) but not
less than the previous one.

Bubble Sort Algorithm

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(n 2) 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.

Insertion Sort
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

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

Merge Sort Algorithm

Merge sort is a sorting technique based on divide and conquer technique. With worst-
case time complexity being Ο(n log n), it is one of the most respected algorithms.
Merge sort first divides the array into equal halves and then combines them in a sorted
manner.

How Merge Sort Works?

To understand merge sort, we take an unsorted array as the following −

We know that merge sort first divides the whole array iteratively into equal halves unless
the atomic values are achieved. We see here that an array of 8 items is divided into two
arrays of size 4.
This does not change the sequence of appearance of items in the original. Now we
divide these two arrays into halves.

We further divide these arrays and we achieve atomic value which can no more be
divided.

Now, we combine them in exactly the same manner as they were broken down. Please
note the color codes given to these lists.
We first compare the element for each list and then combine them into another list in a
sorted manner. We see that 14 and 33 are in sorted positions. We compare 27 and 10
and in the target list of 2 values we put 10 first, followed by 27. We change the order of
19 and 35 whereas 42 and 44 are placed sequentially.

In the next iteration of the combining phase, we compare lists of two data values, and
merge them into a list of found data values placing all in a sorted order.

After the final merging, the list should look like this −

Now we should learn some programming aspects of merge sorting.

Algorithm
Merge sort keeps on dividing the list into equal halves until it can no more be divided.
By definition, if it is only one element in the list, it is sorted. Then, merge sort combines
the smaller sorted lists keeping the new list sorted too.
Step 1 − if it is only one element in the list it is already sorted, return.
Step 2 − divide the list recursively into two halves until it can no more be divided.
Step 3 − merge the smaller lists into new list in sorted order.

Pseudocode
We shall now see the pseudocodes for merge sort functions. As our algorithms point out
two main functions − divide & merge.
Merge sort works with recursion and we shall see our implementation in the same way.
procedure mergesort( var a as array )
if ( n == 1 ) return a

var l1 as array = a[0] ... a[n/2]

var l2 as array = a[n/2+1] ... a[n]

l1 = mergesort( l1 )
l2 = mergesort( l2 )

return merge( l1, l2 )

end procedure

procedure merge( var a as array, var b as array )

var c as array
while ( a and b have elements )
if ( a[0] > b[0] )
add b[0] to the end of c
remove b[0] from b
else
add a[0] to the end of c
remove a[0] from a
end if
end while

while ( a has elements )

add a[0] to the end of c
remove a[0] from a
end while

while ( b has elements )

add b[0] to the end of c
remove b[0] from b
end while

return c

end procedure