Quick Sort & Merge Sort Algorithm

Quick Sort

In Arrays.sort(int[] a) of Java, it uses the Dual-pivot Quick Sort algorithm:

One-pivot Quick Sort

Quick Sort is a Divide and Conquer algorithm. It picks an element as pivot and partitions the given array around the picked pivot. There are many different versions of quick sort that pick pivot in different ways:

1. Always pick first element as pivot.
2. Always pick last element as pivot (implemented below)
3. Pick a random element as pivot.
4. Pick median as pivot.

class QuickSort 
{ 
    /* This function takes last element as pivot, 
       places the pivot element at its correct 
       position in sorted array, and places all 
       smaller (smaller than pivot) to left of 
       pivot and all greater elements to right 
       of pivot */
    int partition(int arr[], int low, int high) 
    { 
        int pivot = arr[high];  
        int i = (low-1); // index of smaller element 
        for (int j=low; j<high; j++) 
        { 
            // If current element is smaller than or equal to pivot 
            if (arr[j] <= pivot) 
            { 
                i++; 
                // swap arr[i] and arr[j] 
                int temp = arr[i]; 
                arr[i] = arr[j]; 
                arr[j] = temp; 
            } 
        } 
        // swap arr[i+1] and arr[high] (or pivot) 
        int temp = arr[i+1]; 
        arr[i+1] = arr[high]; 
        arr[high] = temp; 
        return i+1; 
    } 
    /* The main function that implements QuickSort() 
      arr[] --> Array to be sorted, 
      low  --> Starting index, 
      high  --> Ending index */
    void sort(int arr[], int low, int high) 
    { 
        if (low < high) 
        { 
            /* pi is partitioning index, arr[pi] is now at right place */
            int pi = partition(arr, low, high); 
            // Recursively sort elements before 
            // partition and after partition 
            sort(arr, low, pi-1); 
            sort(arr, pi+1, high); 
        } 
    }
} 

It’s an unstable and in-place sort algorithm, the time complexity can be expressed as following recurrence relation:
$T(n)=T(k)+T(n-k-1)+n$

• In worst case, we get extremely unbalanced array after each partition:
  $T(n)=T(0)+T(n-1)+n=T(n-1)+n=n\ast (n+1)/2\approx O(n^2)$
• In best case, we get equally partitioned array each time:
  $T(n)=2\ast T(n/2)+n=2\ast (T(n/4)+n/2)+n=2\ast (2\ast (T(n/8)+n/4)+n/2)+n=2^k\ast T(n/2^k)+k\ast n$
  When $k={\log }_{2}n,T(n/2^k)=T(1),T(n)=C\ast n+n\ast {\log }_{2}n\approx O(n\log n)$
• In general case, we can suppose the partition puts O(n/9) elements in one set and O(9n/10) elements in other set:
  $T(n)=T(n/9)+T(n/10)+n\approx O(n\log n)$

quick-sort

Dual-pivot Quick Sort

The idea of dual pivot quick sort is to take two pivots, one in the left end of the array and the second, in the right end of the array. The left pivot must be less than or equal to the right pivot, so we swap them if necessary.
Then, we begin partitioning the array into three parts: in the first part, all elements will be less than the left pivot, in the second part all elements will be greater or equal to the left pivot and also will be less than or equal to the right pivot, and in the third part all elements will be greater than the right pivot. Then, we shift the two pivots to their appropriate positions as we see in the below bar, and after that we begin quick sorting these three parts recursively, using this method.

Dual pivot quick sort is a little bit faster than the original single pivot quicksort. But still, the worst case will remain O(n²) when the array is already sorted in an increasing or decreasing order.

dual-pivot-quicksort

Merge Sort

In Arrays.sort(Object[] a) of Java, it use the Merge Sort algorithm:
Like QuickSort, Merge Sort is a Divide and Conquer algorithm. It divides input array in two halves, calls itself for the two halves and then merges the two sorted halves. The merge(arr, l, m, r) is key process that assumes that arr[l…m] and arr[m+1…r] are sorted and merges the two sorted sub-arrays into one.

class MergeSort 
{ 
    // Merges two subarrays of arr[]. 
    // First subarray is arr[l..m] 
    // Second subarray is arr[m+1..r] 
    void merge(int arr[], int l, int m, int r) 
    { 
        // Find sizes of two subarrays to be merged 
        int n1 = m - l + 1; 
        int n2 = r - m; 
        /* Create temp arrays */
        int L[] = new int [n1]; 
        int R[] = new int [n2]; 
        /*Copy data to temp arrays*/
        for (int i=0; i<n1; ++i) 
            L[i] = arr[l + i]; 
        for (int j=0; j<n2; ++j) 
            R[j] = arr[m + 1+ j]; 
        /* Merge the temp arrays */
        // Initial indexes of first and second subarrays 
        int i = 0, j = 0; 
        // Initial index of merged subarry array 
        int k = l; 
        while (i < n1 && j < n2) 
        { 
            if (L[i] <= R[j]) 
            { 
                arr[k] = L[i]; 
                i++; 
            } else { 
                arr[k] = R[j]; 
                j++; 
            } 
            k++; 
        } 
        /* Copy remaining elements of L[] if any */
        while (i < n1) 
        { 
            arr[k] = L[i]; 
            i++; 
            k++; 
        } 
        /* Copy remaining elements of R[] if any */
        while (j < n2) 
        { 
            arr[k] = R[j]; 
            j++; 
            k++; 
        } 
    } 
    // Main function that sorts arr[l..r] using 
    // merge() 
    void sort(int arr[], int l, int r) 
    { 
        if (l < r) 
        { 
            // Find the middle point 
            int m = (l+r)/2; 
            // Sort first and second halves 
            sort(arr, l, m); 
            sort(arr , m+1, r); 
            // Merge the sorted halves 
            merge(arr, l, m, r); 
        } 
    }
} 

It’s a stable but not in-place sort algorithm, the time complexity can be expressed as following recurrence relation in best, worst, average cases:
$T(n)=2\ast T(n/2)+n=2\ast (T(n/4)+n/2)+n=2\ast (2\ast (T(n/8)+n/4)+n/2)+n=2^k\ast T(n/2^k)+k\ast n\approx O(n\log n)$
The space complexity is O(n), but in case of sorting linked list, the space complexity is O(1):

public class linkedList { 
	node head = null; 
	// node a, b; 
	static class node { 
		int val; 
		node next; 
		public node(int val) 
		{ 
			this.val = val; 
		} 
	} 
	node sortedMerge(node a, node b) 
	{ 
		node result = null; 
		/* Base cases */
		if (a == null) 
			return b; 
		if (b == null) 
			return a; 
		/* Pick either a or b, and recur */
		if (a.val <= b.val) { 
			result = a; 
			result.next = sortedMerge(a.next, b); 
		} else { 
			result = b; 
			result.next = sortedMerge(a, b.next); 
		} 
		return result; 
	} 
	node mergeSort(node h) 
	{ 
		// Base case : if head is null 
		if (h == null || h.next == null) { 
			return h; 
		} 
		// get the middle of the list 
		node middle = getMiddle(h); 
		node nextofmiddle = middle.next; 
		// set the next of middle node to null 
		middle.next = null; 
		// Apply mergeSort on left list 
		node left = mergeSort(h); 
		// Apply mergeSort on right list 
		node right = mergeSort(nextofmiddle); 
		// Merge the left and right lists 
		node sortedlist = sortedMerge(left, right); 
		return sortedlist; 
	} 
	// Utility function to get the middle of the linked list 
	node getMiddle(node h) 
	{ 
		// Base case 
		if (h == null) 
			return h; 
		node fastptr = h.next; 
		node slowptr = h; 
		// Move fastptr by two and slow ptr by one 
		// Finally slowptr will point to middle node 
		while (fastptr != null) { 
			fastptr = fastptr.next; 
			if (fastptr != null) { 
				slowptr = slowptr.next; 
				fastptr = fastptr.next; 
			} 
		} 
		return slowptr; 
	} 
} 

merge-sort
merge-sort-for-linked-list