Sleep Sort

Sleep Sort – sleep sorting, another representative of deterministic strange sorting algorithms.

Works like this:

1. Iterates through a list of elements
2. Run a separate thread for each loop
3. The thread sleeps (sleep) the thread for a while – the value of the element and output the value after sleep
4. At the end of the loop, wait until the end of the thread’s longest sleep, display a sorted list

An example code for the sleep sort algorithm in C:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <unistd.h>

typedef struct {
    int number;
} ThreadPayload;

void *sortNumber(void *args) {
    ThreadPayload *payload = (ThreadPayload*) args;
    const int number = payload->number;
    free(payload);
    usleep(number * 1000);
    printf("%d", number);
    return NULL;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    const int numbers[] = {2, 42, 1, 87, 7, 9, 5, 35};
    const int length = sizeof(numbers) / sizeof(int);

    int maximal = 0;
    pthread_t maximalThreadID;

    printf("Sorting: ");
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) { pthread_t threadID; int number = numbers[i]; printf("%d", number); ThreadPayload *payload = malloc(sizeof(ThreadPayload)); payload->number = number;
        pthread_create(&threadID, NULL, sortNumber, (void *) payload);
        if (maximum < number) {
            maximal = number;
            maximalThreadID = threadID;
        }
    }
    printf("\n");
    printf("Sorted: ");
    pthread_join(maximalThreadID, NULL);
    printf("\n");
    return 0;
}

In this implementation, I used the usleep function on microseconds with the value multiplied by 1000, i.e. in milliseconds.
The time complexity of the algorithm is O(v. long)

Links

https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/algorithms/ -/tree/master/sortAlgorithms/sleepSort

Sources

https://codoholicconfessions.wordpress.com/2017 /05/21/strangest-sorting-algorithms/
https://twitter.com/javascriptdaily/status/856267407106682880?lang= en
https:// stackoverflow.com/questions/6474318/what-is-the-time-complexity-of-the-sleep-sort