Introduction to Database Management Systems

Appendix B

Sorting Techniques

B.1 Sorting

Sorting of data means arranging it in some order or sequence.

For instance, assume that we have four numbers 78, 16, 18, 70. If we arrange them in an ascending (increasing) order to make the list as 16, 18, 70, 78, then the list is considered as sorted in an ascending order. Similarly, if we arrange these four numbers as 78, 70, 18, 16, then the list is sorted in a descending (decreasing) order.

Sorting need not only be applied to numbers. For example, if there are five alphabets X, I, A, E, T, they can be sorted in either ascending order (A, E, I, T, X) or descending order (X, T, I, E, A).

Sorting techniques have a great importance in computer applications. For instance, consider the following requirements ...