Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!bionet!synoptics!unix!garth!smryan From: smryan@garth.UUCP (Steven Ryan) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: A very brief history of optimal sorting methods Message-ID: <157@garth.UUCP> Date: 19 Nov 90 19:56:29 GMT References: <6913:Nov1008:23:5690@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <237@smds.UUCP> <4248@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> <24945:Nov1218:54:5590@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Reply-To: smryan@garth.UUCP (Steven Ryan) Organization: INTERGRAPH (APD) -- Palo Alto, CA Lines: 14 >Sorting is linear in the number of bytes being sorted. This is true both >theoretically and practically. What is the theoretical and practical relation between the number of bytes and the number keys (records). If you have b bytes and n keys, which is true: b = kn or b = k n log n or b > k n log n ? -- ...!uunet!ingr!apd!smryan Steven Ryan ...!{apple|pyramid}!garth!smryan 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, CA