a generic quicksort implementation in c

2011-04-10

As assignment for Data Structures and Algorithms course, we had to work with a modified version of the quicksort algorithm. It came obvious that for modifying a qsort you need to implement it

It is difficult to find a clear quicksort algorithm implemented, so I wrote it.

Here is the generic C implementation of the Quicksort Algorithm, which sorts an array in place, following the Divide And Conquer design.

int partition( int A[], int left, int right) {
    
    int pivot;
    pivot = A[right];
    
    while(1){
        while( A[right] > pivot){
            right--;
        }
        while( A[left] < pivot){
            left++;
        }
        if( left < right ){
            swap(A,left,right);
            }else{
            return left;
        }
    }
}

void quicksort( int A[], int left, int right){
    int m;
    if( left < right ) {
        m = partition( A, left, right);
        quicksort( A, left, m-1);
        quicksort( A, m+1, right);
    }
}

As you see, there is nothing optimized in this implementation. It just looks elegant and easy to be understood. If you would like to have a more optimized version of this algorithm, take a look at this one.

I do not use a commenting system anymore, but I would be glad to read your feedback. Feel free to contact me.