Final answer:
The quickSort function is a sorting algorithm that uses a divide and conquer method to sort a list in ascending order by recursively partitioning the list into elements less than and greater than a pivot element. Pseudo-code has been provided assuming a helper function named splitList is used for partitioning.
Step-by-step explanation:
The quickSort function is a classic sorting algorithm which efficiently sorts a list or array using a divide and conquer approach. I will describe how to write a quickSort function assuming splitList is a helper function already defined. The splitList function likely partitions the list into two sublists based on a pivot element, one containing elements less than the pivot and the other containing elements greater than the pivot.
To implement the quickSort function, you can use the following pseudo-code:
- Check if the list is of length 0 or 1, return the list as it is already sorted.
- Select a pivot element from the list.
- Use splitList to partition the list into two sublists: elements less than the pivot (left) and greater than the pivot (right).
- Recursively apply quickSort to the left and right sublists.
- Combine the sorted left sublist, pivot, and sorted right sublist.
Note that the success of the quickSort heavily relies on the efficiency of the splitList function. The overall sorting process follows a recursive pattern until the base case of a single or no element list is reached.
Here is a basic template in pseudo-code:
listADT quickSort(listADT list) {
if length(list) <= 1 {
return list;
}
pivot = selectPivot(list);
left, right = splitList(list, pivot);
return concatenate(quickSort(left), pivot, quickSort(right));
}
In actual code, you'll need to define how the pivot is selected, how lists are concatenated, and the specific workings of your quickSort and splitList functions according to the listADT data structure they work with.