/* * Unlike a traditional sorting algorithm, which attempts to sort with the fewest * comparisons possible, the goal of pancake sort is to sort the sequence in as few reversals as * possible. The idea is to do something similar to Selection Sort. We one by one place * maximum element at the end and reduce the size of current array by one. * * Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/pancake-sorting/ * * This sorting algorithm is inspired by the pancake problem (hence the name), * where a spatula can be placed anywhere between two pancakes and flip all pancakes * above. * * The interesting about this algorithm (besides its name) is that instead of comparisons, * the algorithm relies on flipping an array. * * Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake_sorting#The_original_pancake_problem * */ /** * Unlike Array.prototype.reverse, flipArray reverses only a subarray of the given * array, determined by the parameters startIndex and endIndex * * @param {number[]} array The array to flip * @param {number} startIndex The start of the subarray * @param {number} endIndex The end of the subarray * @returns The flipped array */ export function flipArray(array, startIndex, endIndex) { while (startIndex < endIndex) { // swap front and back of the subarray const temp = array[startIndex] array[startIndex] = array[endIndex] array[endIndex] = temp // essentially reducing the problem to a smaller subarray startIndex++ endIndex-- } return array } /** * Returns the index of the maximum number of a subarray in a given array * * @param {number[]} array The array to found the maximum number's index * @param {*} startIndex The start of the subarray * @param {*} endIndex The end of the subarray * @returns The index of the maximum number */ export function findMax(array, startIndex, endIndex) { let maxIndex = 0 for (let i = startIndex; i <= endIndex; i++) { if (array[i] > array[maxIndex]) maxIndex = i } return maxIndex } /** * The Pancake Sort algorithm. * * Note that even though it's a completely different concept of sorting an * array, it's rather simple! * * @param {number[]} array The array to sort * @returns The sorted array */ export function pancakeSort(array) { for (let subarraySize = array.length; subarraySize > 1; subarraySize--) { const maximumIndex = findMax(array, 0, subarraySize - 1) if (maximumIndex !== subarraySize - 1) { flipArray(array, 0, maximumIndex) flipArray(array, 0, subarraySize - 1) } } return array }