Learn to Program, 2nd Edition

Rite of Passage: Sorting

Remember the sorting program you wrote here where you asked for a list of words, sorted it, and then displayed the sorted list? The program was made much easier because you used the array’s sort method. But, like the Jedi who constructs his own lightsaber, you’ll exhibit a greater mastery if you write your own sorting method. Hey, we’ve all done it. It’s not easy, but this kind of problem solving is part of nearly every program you’ll write, so you’d best get your practice now.

But where do you begin? Much like with continent_size, it’s probably best to try to solve the problem in English first. Then translate it into Ruby when you’ve wrapped your head around it.

So, we want to sort an array of words, and we know ...