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From: lmiller@venera.isi.edu.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Fast, stable, free, small sorts?
Message-ID: <3636@venera.isi.edu>
Date: Wed, 23-Sep-87 12:59:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: venera.3636
Posted: Wed Sep 23 12:59:29 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Sep-87 11:22:45 EDT
References: <460@naucse.UUCP> <3603@venera.isi.edu> <20029@cca.CCA.COM>
Reply-To: lmiller@venera.isi.edu.UUCP (Larry Miller)
Organization: Information Sciences Institute, Univ. of So. California
Lines: 15
Xref: utgpu comp.misc:1155 comp.lang.c:4306

In article <20029@cca.CCA.COM> g-rh@CCA.CCA.COM.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes:
>In article <3603@venera.isi.edu> lmiller@venera.isi.edu.UUCP (Larry Miller) writes:
>>
>>Why is STABLE necessary?  Most any NlogN routine can be written to
>>swap pointers rather than the data itself, so a stable routine shouldn't
>>be that important...
>
>Stability is essential for sorting on multiple keys.
              ^^^^^^^^^

Oh come on.  Any first year data structures/algorithms student could devise
a routine that will sort on multiple keys, and the sort does not have to be
stable.

Larry