Sorting Techniques

Sorting means putting things in order, usually from smallest to biggest.

Example:

Before: 8 3 5 1 4
After : 1 3 4 5 8

Think of sorting like arranging books from shortest to tallest, or lining up students by height.

Files In This Folder

• Bubble Sort
• Insertion Sort
• Selection Sort
• Quick Sort
• Merge Sort
• Heap Sort
• Comparison
• Visual Comparison

Fast Idea Of Each Method

Algorithm	Main Idea
Bubble Sort	Big items "bubble" to the end by swapping neighbors
Insertion Sort	Put each new item into the correct place in the sorted part
Selection Sort	Repeatedly pick the smallest item and put it in front
Quick Sort	Pick a pivot, split into smaller and bigger parts, sort them
Merge Sort	Split into halves, sort them, then merge back together
Heap Sort	Build a special tree shape and repeatedly remove the largest

Which Ones Are Usually Faster?

For very small lists, Insertion Sort is often good.

For large lists:

• Quick Sort is usually very fast in practice
• Merge Sort is very reliable and always O(n log n) time
• Heap Sort is also O(n log n) time, but often a bit less friendly to understand

Easy Memory Trick

• O(n^2) sorts: Bubble, Insertion, Selection
• O(n log n) sorts: Quick (average), Merge, Heap

See Also

For the side-by-side table and when to use each one, read Comparison.

For diagram-heavy visuals, read Visual Comparison.