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@unnikked
Created July 5, 2015 10:27
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Stooge sort
import java.util.Arrays;
/**
* Stooge sort is a recursive sorting algorithm with a time complexity of
* O(n^(log 3 / log 1.5) ) = O(n^(2.7095...)). The running time of the
* algorithm is thus slower compared to efficient sorting algorithms, such as
* Merge sort, and is even slower than Bubble sort, a canonical example of a
* fairly inefficient and simple sort.
*
* The algorithm is defined as follows:
*
* - If the value at the end is smaller than the value at the start, swap them.
* - If there are 3 or more elements in the list, then:
* 1. Stooge sort the initial 2/3 of the list
* 2. Stooge sort the final 2/3 of the list
* 3. Stooge sort the initial 2/3 of the list again
* - else: exit the procedure
* It is important to get the integer sort size used in the recursive calls by
* rounding the 2/3 upwards, e.g. rounding 2/3 of 5 should give 4 rather than
* 3, as otherwise the sort can fail on certain data. However, if the code is
* written to end on a base case of size 1, rather than terminating on either
* size 1 or size 2, rounding the 2/3 of 2 upwards gives an infinite number of
* calls.
*
* Implementation based on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stooge_sort
* License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
*/
public final class StoogeSort {
public static void sort(int[] array) {
sort(array, 0, array.length - 1);
}
private static void sort(int[] array, int i, int j) {
if(array[i] > array[j]) {
int tmp = array[i];
array[i] = array[j];
array[j] = tmp;
}
if(j - i + 1 > 2) {
int t = (int) Math.floor((j - i + 1) / 3);
sort(array, i, j - t);
sort(array, i + t, j);
sort(array, i, j - t);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] array = {9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 1, 2, 0};
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(array));
sort(array);
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(array));
}
}
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