primitive Sort[A: Seq[B] ref, B: Comparable[B] #read]
"""
Implementation of dual-pivot quicksort. It operates in-place on the provided Seq, using
a small amount of additional memory. The nature of the element-realation is expressed via
the supplied comparator.
(The following is paraphrased from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksort).)
Quicksort is a common implementation of a sort algorithm which can sort items of any type
for which a "less-than" relation (formally, a total order) is defined.
On average, the algorithm takes O(n log n) comparisons to sort n items. In the worst case,
it makes O(n2) comparisons, though this behavior is rare. Multi-pivot implementations
(of which dual-pivot is one) make efficient use of modern processor caches.
## Example program
The following takes an reverse-alphabetical array of Strings ("third", "second", "first"),
and sorts it in place alphabetically using the default String Comparator.
It outputs:
> first
> second
> third
```pony
use "collections"
actor Main
new create(env:Env) =>
let array = [ "third"; "second"; "first" ]
let sorted_array = Sort[Array[String], String](array)
for e in sorted_array.values() do
env.out.print(e) // prints "first \n second \n third"
end
```
"""
fun apply(a: A): A^ =>
"""
Sort the given seq.
"""
try _sort(a, 0, a.size().isize() - 1)? end
a
fun _sort(a: A, lo: ISize, hi: ISize) ? =>
if hi <= lo then return end
// choose outermost elements as pivots
if a(lo.usize())? > a(hi.usize())? then _swap(a, lo, hi)? end
(var p, var q) = (a(lo.usize())?, a(hi.usize())?)
// partition according to invariant
(var l, var g) = (lo + 1, hi - 1)
var k = l
while k <= g do
if a(k.usize())? < p then
_swap(a, k, l)?
l = l + 1
elseif a(k.usize())? >= q then
while (a(g.usize())? > q) and (k < g) do g = g - 1 end
_swap(a, k, g)?
g = g - 1
if a(k.usize())? < p then
_swap(a, k, l)?
l = l + 1
end
end
k = k + 1
end
(l, g) = (l - 1, g + 1)
// swap pivots to final positions
_swap(a, lo, l)?
_swap(a, hi, g)?
// recursively sort 3 partitions
_sort(a, lo, l - 1)?
_sort(a, l + 1, g - 1)?
_sort(a, g + 1, hi)?
fun _swap(a: A, i: ISize, j: ISize) ? =>
a(j.usize())? = a(i.usize())? = a(j.usize())?