Analyze three sorting programs to determine which algorithms they use.

Recall from class a few algorithms in which we can sort a list of numbers: selection sort, bubble sort, and merge sort.

• Selection sort iterates through the unsorted portions of a list, selecting the smallest element each time and moving it to its correct location.
• Bubble sort compares two adjacent values at a time and swaps them if they are in the incorrect order. This continues until the list is sorted.
• Merge sort divides the list into two repeatedly and then combines the smaller lists back into a larger one in the correct order.

Provided to you are three sorts, sort1, sort2, and sort3. The three sorts implemented are selection sort, bubble sort, and merge sort. Determine the sorting algorithms each sort implements.

• sort1, sort2, and sort3 are binary files and cannot be opened by the user. To assess which sort implements which algorithm, run the sorts on different lists of values.
• Multiple .txt files are provided to you. These files contain n lines of values, either reversed, shuffled, or sorted.
  • For example, reversed10000.txt contains 10000 lines of numbers that are reversed from 10000, while shuffled100000.txt contains 100000 lines of numbers that are in random order.
• To run the sorts on the text files, in the terminal, run ./[sort_file] [text_file.txt].
  • For example, to sort reversed10000.txt with sort1, run ./sort1 reversed10000.txt.
• Record your predictions in answers.txt.

• You may find it helpful to time your sorts. To do so, run time ./[sort_file] [text_file.txt].
• The different types of .txt files may help you determine which sort is which. Consider how each algorithm performs with an already sorted list. How about a reversed list? Or shuffled list? It may help to work through a smaller list of each type and walk through each sorting process.

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