Sorting a distributed file in a network

Abstract

This paper presents a new algorithm based on Quicksort for sorting in place a distributed file in a message switching network. It discusses in detail the algorithmic aspects of the method and compares it to other possible approaches. The sort is analyzed and is shown to require, on the average, O( M·log( M)) messages and a total data traffic of O( N·log( M)) records for a file of size N fragmented over M stations. Arguments for the performance one may expect in practice, where N is much larger than M, are given. They are supported by results from a sequential simulation.