diff options
author | Anthony Wang | 2024-11-04 13:28:52 -0500 |
---|---|---|
committer | Anthony Wang | 2024-11-04 13:28:52 -0500 |
commit | 5e6592fc9644368234de5d7b56a0f42644c49c6c (patch) | |
tree | 4e1dc19bed7b6b892939a4226ac8a3b5e4b7e639 | |
parent | 4e9731c1b867f869734c2904735708d3d4a9ffec (diff) |
ICan'tBelieveItCanSort
-rw-r--r-- | content/posts/i-cant-believe-it-can-sort.md | 27 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | layouts/shortcodes/sort.html | 36 |
2 files changed, 63 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/content/posts/i-cant-believe-it-can-sort.md b/content/posts/i-cant-believe-it-can-sort.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d86bbd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/i-cant-believe-it-can-sort.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +title: "ICan'tBelieveItCanSort!" +date: 2024-11-04T12:20:49-05:00 +description: "Explaining a surprising sorting algorithm" +type: "post" +tags: ["algorithms"] +--- + + +I recently learned a new sorting algorithm called the ICan'tBelieveItCanSort algorithm: + +```cpp +for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) + for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) + if (A[i] < A[j]) + swap(A[i], A[j]); +``` + +Wait what? The more I think about this, the more I think it shouldn't work. This sorts in increasing order? + +But it does actually work, and I think watching a visualization is the best way to convince yourself. + +{{< sort >}} + +I still can't believe it can sort! But this algorithm does have a certain aesthetic elegance so I definitely encourage you to use it in all your programs to troll the next person who reads your code! + +You can read more about this algorithm and a formal proof of it in [this arXiv paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.01111). diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/sort.html b/layouts/shortcodes/sort.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a748bd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/layouts/shortcodes/sort.html @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +<button onclick="run()">Run visualization</button> +<pre id="visualization"> +</pre> +<script> +let running = false + +function render(n, A, i, j) { + let line1 = Array(n).fill(" ") + line1[j] = "j" + line1[i] = "i" + document.getElementById("visualization").innerHTML = line1.join(" ") + "\n" + A.join(" ") +} + +async function run() { + if (running) return + running = true + + let n = 10 + let A = Array(n).fill().map(() => Math.floor(Math.random() * 10)) + for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) { + for (let j = 0; j < n; j++) { + render(n, A, i, j) + await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 500)) + if (A[i] < A[j]) { + let tmp = A[i] + A[i] = A[j] + A[j] = tmp + render(n, A, i, j) + await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 500)) + } + } + } + + running = false +} +</script> |