Merge Sort

Recursively dividing an array into smaller sub-arrays, then merging them back together to get a fully sorted array. Is $O(n{\log }_2(n))$ time

Merging Algorithm

1. Split up the list into sub-arrays of 1
2. Check which sub-list is smaller than the other, and merge in proper order

Pseudocode

C Implementation

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
#define MAX_LEN = 1024
 
void print_list(int* list, int len){
  for (int i = 0; i < len; i++){
    printf("%d, ", list[i]);
  }
}
 
int* merge(int* list1, int* list2, int len1, int len2){
  // create a new max list size with len1+len2
  //printf("list1: ");
  //print_list(list1, len1);
  //printf("list2: ");
  //print_list(list2, len2);
  int* ret_list = (int*)calloc(len1+len2, sizeof(int));
  int ptr1 = 0;
  int ptr2 = 0;
  int ptr_list = 0;
  while (ptr1 < len1 && ptr2 < len2){
    if (list1[ptr1] < list2[ptr2]){
      ret_list[ptr_list] = list1[ptr1];
      ptr1++;
    }
    else{
      ret_list[ptr_list] = list2[ptr2];
      ptr2++;
    }
    ptr_list++;
  }
  // dump last things 
  if (ptr1 < len1){
    for (int i = ptr1; i < len1; i++){
      ret_list[ptr_list] = list1[i];
      ptr_list++;
    }
  }
  else if (ptr2 < len2){
    for (int i = ptr2; i < len2; i++){
      ret_list[ptr_list] = list2[i];
      ptr_list++;
    }
  }
  //printf("ret_list:");
  //print_list(ret_list, len1+len2);
  return ret_list;
}
 
int* merge_sort(int* arr, int len){
  if (len == 1){
    return arr;
  }
  return merge(merge_sort(arr, len/2), merge_sort(arr+len/2, len-len/2), len/2, len-len/2);
}
 
int main(){
  int mylist[10] = {2, 5, 2 ,6, 7, 1, 4, 10, 9, 3};
  int* newlist = merge_sort(mylist, 10);
  print_list(newlist, 10);
  return 0;
}