用归并排序对链表进行排序

     当我们需要对链表进行排序时，由于不能对它的元素进行随机访问，所以更适合使用归并排序，大名鼎鼎的快速排序用到链表上，效率也很低，原因还是在于不能对链表中的元素进行随机访问，同理，采用堆排序更是不可能的事情。

       算法具体实现时需要一个指向头节点（链表的第一个节点，链表中不包含额外的一个节点来作头节点）的指针，这是因为在算法实现的时候，不大可能第一个节点正好就是所有元素中最小的一个，则链表的头节点会改变，因此我们需要一个指向头节点的指针来存储不断变化的头节点。

算法思想：

MergeSort(headRef)

1) If head is NULL or there is only one element in the Linked List
    then return.
2) Else divide the linked list into two halves.
      FrontBackSplit(head, &a, &b); /* a and b are two halves */
3) Sort the two halves a and b.
      MergeSort(a);
      MergeSort(b);
4) Merge the sorted a and b (using SortedMerge() discussed here)
   and update the head pointer using headRef.
     *headRef = SortedMerge(a, b);

#include <stdio.h>  
#include <stdlib.h>  
  
/*Link list node*/  
struct node  
{  
    int data;  
    struct node* next;  
};  
  
/*function prototype */  
struct node* SortedMerge(struct node* a, struct node* b);  
void FrontBackSplit(struct node* source, struct node** frontRef, struct node** backRef);  
  
/*sorts the linked list by changing next pointers(not data) */  
void MergeSort(struct node** headRef)  
{  
    struct node* head = *headRef;  
    struct node* a;  
    struct node* b;  
  
    /*base case-- length 0 or 1 */  
    if((head == NULL) || (head->next == NULL))  
    {  
        return;  
    }  
      
    /*Split head into 'a' and 'b' sublists */  
    FrontBackSplit(head, &a, &b);  
  
    /*Recursively sort the sublists */  
    MergeSort(&a);  
    MergeSort(&b);  
  
    /* answer = merge the two sorted lists together */  
    *headRef = SortedMerge(a, b);  
}  
  
struct node* SortedMerge(struct node* a, struct node* b)  
{  
    struct node* result = NULL;  
  
    /* Base cases */  
    if(a == NULL)  
        return (b);  
    else if(b == NULL)  
        return (a);  
  
    /* Pick either a or b recur */  
    if(a->data <= b->data)  
    {  
        result = a;  
        result->next = SortedMerge(a->next, b);  
    }  
    else  
    {  
        result = b;  
        result->next = SortedMerge(a, b->next);     
    }  
    return (result);  
}  
  
/* UTILITY FUNCTIONS */  
/* Split the nodes of the given list into front and back halves, 
    and return the two lists using the references parameters. 
    If the length is odd, the extra node shold go in the front list. 
    Uses the fast/slow pointer strategy. */  
void FrontBackSplit(struct node* source, struct node** frontRef, struct node** backRef)  
{  
    struct node* fast;  
    struct node* slow;  
  
    if(source == NULL || source->next == NULL)  
    {  
        *frontRef = source;  
        *backRef = NULL;  
    }  
    else  
    {  
        slow = source;  
        fast = source->next;  
  
        /* Advance 'fast' two nodes, and advance 'slow' one node */   
        while(fast != NULL)  
        {  
            fast = fast->next;  
            if( fast != NULL )  
            {  
                slow = slow->next;  
                fast = fast->next;  
            }  
        }  
  
        *frontRef = source;  
        *backRef = slow->next;  
        slow->next = NULL;  
    }  
} 
时间复杂度为O(nLogn)。
貌似MergeSort的时间复杂度为O(nLogn)，Split的时间复杂度也为O(nLogn)？当然了，总的时间复杂度还是O(nLogn)，但是肯定没有对数组进行归并排序快