Wednesday, March 11, 2009

What is Radix Sort?

Radix Sort is an algorithm that sorts a list of numbers and comes under the category of distribution sort.
This sorting algorithm doesn't compare the numbers but distributes them, it works as follows:
1. Sorting takes place by distributing the list of number into a bucket by passing through the individual digits of a given number one-by-one beginning with the least significant part. Here, the number of buckets are a total of ten, which bare key values starting from 0 to 9.
2. After each pass, the numbers are collected from the buckets, keeping the numbers in order
3. Now, recursively redistribute the numbers as in the above step '1' but with a following reconsideration: take into account next most significant part of the number, which is then followed by above step '2'.

For an illustration concerning this sorting algorithm check the Radix Sorting exercise

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