• DOI:10.1002/spe.4380231105
Corpus ID: 8822797

Engineering a sort function

@article{Bentley1993EngineeringAS,
  title={Engineering a sort function},
  author={J. Bentley and M. McIlroy},
  journal={Software: Practice and Experience},
  year={1993},
  volume={23}
}

• J. Bentley, M. McIlroy
• Published 1993
• Computer Science
• Software: Practice and Experience

We recount the history of a new qsortfunction for a C library. Our function is clearer, faster and more robust than existing sorts. It chooses partitioning elements by a new sampling scheme; it partitions by a novel solution to Dijkstra's Dutch National Flag problem; and it swaps efficiently. Its behavior was assessed with timing and debugging testbeds, and with a program to certify performance. The design techniques apply in domains beyond sorting.