bubble sort

2 definitions found

bubble sort - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  bubble sort
  
     A sorting technique in which pairs of adjacent values in the
     list to be sorted are compared and interchanged if they are
     out of order; thus, list entries "bubble upward" in the list
     until they bump into one with a lower sort value.  Because it
     is not very good relative to other methods and is the one
     typically stumbled on by naive and untutored programmers,
     hackers consider it the canonical example of a naive
     algorithm.  The canonical example of a really *bad* algorithm
     is bogo-sort.  A bubble sort might be used out of ignorance,
     but any use of bogo-sort could issue only from brain damage or
     willful perversity.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

bubble sort - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  bubble sort
   n.
  
     Techspeak for a particular sorting technique in which pairs of
     adjacent values in the list to be sorted are compared and
  interchanged
     if they are out of order; thus, list entries `bubble upward' in the
     list until they bump into one with a lower sort value. Because it is
     not very good relative to other methods and is the one typically
     stumbled on by naive and untutored programmers, hackers consider it
     the canonical example of a naive algorithm. (However, it's been
     shown by repeated experiment that below about 5000 records
  bubble-sort
     is OK anyway.) The canonical example of a really bad algorithm is
     bogo-sort. A bubble sort might be used out of ignorance, but any
  use
     of bogo-sort could issue only from brain damage or willful
  perversity.