Remarks on ?A Synthesis of Several Sorting Algorithms? by John Darlington

Abstract

In his paper "A Synthesis of Several Sorting Algorithms," John Darlington presents syntheses for six different sorting algorithms, together with a family tree of sorting algorithms, and mentions a symmetry between Quick Sort, Selection Sort, Merge Sort, and Insertion Sort. In our own attempts to codify programming knowledge, we have developed a slightly different family tree which shows similar symmetries, and which also shows that Bubble Sort and Sinking Sort can be viewed as in-place versions of Selection Sort and Insertion Sort, thus adding another symmetry to those noted by Darlington.