Abstract
Replacement selection is the most popular algorithm used in the creation of initial runs for a sort/merge external sort. In 1972, Frazer and Wong suggested a variation, called natural selection, which uses an auxiliary memory reservoir to increase the performance of replacement selection. Natural selection produces longer runs than replacement selection if the auxiliary memory reservoir is sufficiently large, but it behaves very strangely when the size of the auxiliary memory is small: while using more memory resources than replacement selection, it creates shorter runs, thus being less efficient. As it turns out, this deficiency can be avoided at low cost. This note presents a variation of natural selection that is efficient when the auxiliary memory is small.
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