Explain Bubble Sort Algorithm Like I`m Five

#explainlikeimfive #algorithm #sortalgorithms

I see this tag is popular here, so please explain me for example Bubble Sort Algorithm like I`m five :)

Oldest comments (3)

Say you were given a list of 6 numbers and you wanted to sort them from least to greatest. The list looks like this:

1 4 5 2 3 6

With Bubble Sort, you start from the beginning (the left in this case), and you put a "bubble" around the first two indices and sort, like so:

[1 4] 5 2 3 6

Since 1 < 4 (which is what we want), you move the "bubble" one index to the right.

1 [4 5] 2 3 6

...and so on and so forth...

1 4 [5 2] 3 6

At this point, 5 > 2, so those two would be swapped

1 4 [2 5] 3 6
1 4 2 [5 3] 6; 5 > 3 so we swap.
1 4 2 [3 5] 6
1 4 2 3 [5 6]

Then we start over at the beginning, and repeat until no further swaps are needed, i.e., until the list is sorted from least to greatest.

Bubblesort stinks

Learn Quicksort instead