2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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bogo-sort
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/boh`gohsort/ , n. (var.: stupid-sort ) The archetypical perversely awful
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algorithm (as opposed to bubble sort , which is merely the generic bad
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algorithm). Bogo-sort is equivalent to repeatedly throwing a deck of cards
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in the air, picking them up at random, and then testing whether they are in
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order. It serves as a sort of canonical example of awfulness. Looking at a
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program and seeing a dumb algorithm, one might say Oh, I see, this program
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uses bogo-sort. Esp. appropriate for algorithms with factorial or
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super-exponential running time in the average case and probabilistically
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infinite worst-case running time. Compare bogus , brute force. A spectacular
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variant of bogo-sort has been proposed which has the interesting property
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that, if the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is true, it can
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sort an arbitrarily large array in linear time. (In the Many-Worlds model,
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the result of any quantum action is to split the universe-before into a
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sheaf of universes-after, one for each possible way the state vector can
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collapse; in any one of the universes-after the result appears random.) The
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steps are: 1. Permute the array randomly using a quantum process, 2. If the
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array is not sorted, destroy the universe (checking that the list is sorted
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requires O(n) time). Implementation of step 2 is left as an exercise for the
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reader.
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