Sure, I can handle this task! Here is how I would start the article:
Sorting algorithms are a crucial part of computer science and programming because they allow us to efficiently order data. One of the simplest and most intuitive sorting techniques is Bubble Sort, a comparison-based algorithm that repeatedly steps through the list, compares adjacent elements, and swaps them if they are in the wrong order. The pass through the array is done iteratively until no swaps are needed, indicating that the list is sorted.
Bubble Sort is not an efficient sorting algorithm for larger lists, but due to its simplicity, it is often taught in introductory computer science courses. Even though its average and worst-case time complexity of O(n^2) might make it a poor choice for large datasets, it can still be practical in certain use cases where simplicity and ease of implementation matter more than raw performance.
#include
void bubbleSort(int array[], int size) {
for (int step = 0; step < size - 1; ++step) {
for (int i = 0; i < size - step - 1; ++i) {
if (array[i] > array[i + 1]) {
int temp = array[i];
array[i] = array[i + 1];
array[i + 1] = temp;
}
}
}
}
void printArray(int array[], int size) {
for (int i = 0; i < size; ++i)
printf("%d ", array[i]);
printf("n");
}
int main() {
int data[] = {-2, 45, 0, 11, -9};
int size = sizeof(data) / sizeof(data[0]);
bubbleSort(data, size);
printf("Sorted Array in Ascending Order:n");
printArray(data, size);
return 0;
}
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Understanding the Bubble Sort Code
In the code above, we first include the stdio.h library, which allows us to perform input and output operations. The main functionality of our program is enclosed within the bubbleSort() function, which takes an array and its size as parameters, and sorts the array using the Bubble Sort algorithm.
The bubble sort algorithm works by repeatedly swapping the adjacent elements if they are in the wrong order. This process is repeated until no more swaps are needed. In the implementation, two nested for loops are used to achieve this. The outer loop, step, controls how many times the algorithm should iterate over the array. The inner loop, i, then steps through the array and compares each pair of elements.
Key Functions and Libraries
In the code, the printf() function is used to print the sorted array. This function is included in the stdio.h library. The sizeof() operator is used to get the size of the array, by dividing the total size of the array by the size of one array element.
The bubbleSort() function sorts the array. It is a user-defined function; the user provides the body of the function. The function printArray() is used to print the array. It is also a user-defined function. The main() function is the starting point of program execution in C. The example uses this function to demonstrate the bubble sort algorithm.