Sorting algorithm

In computer science, a sorting algorithm is an algorithm that puts elements of a list into an order. The most frequently used orders are numerical order and lexicographical order, and either ascending order or descending order. Efficient sorting is important for optimizing the efficiency of other algorithms that require input data to be in sorted lists.

Sorting is also often useful for canonicalizing data and for producing human-readable output.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5

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