psort_r(3) [osx man page]
PSORT(3) BSD Library Functions Manual PSORT(3) NAME
psort, psort_b, psort_r -- parallel sort functions SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h> void psort(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *)); void psort_b(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (^compar)(const void *, const void *)); void psort_r(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, void *thunk, int (*compar)(void *, const void *, const void *)); DESCRIPTION
The psort(), psort_b(), and psort_r() functions are parallel sort routines that are drop-in compatible with the corresponding qsort() func- tion (see qsort(3) for a description of the arguments). On multiprocessor machines, multiple threads may be created to simultaneously per- form the sort calculations, resulting in an overall faster sort result. Overhead in managing the threads limits the maximum speed improve- ment to somewhat less that the number of processors available. For example, on a 4-processor machine, a typical sort on a large array might result in 3.2 times faster sorting than a regular qsort(). RESTRICTIONS
Because of the multi-threaded nature of the sort, the comparison function is expected to perform its own synchronization that might be required for data physically outside the two objects passed to the comparison function. However, no synchronization is required for the two object themselves, unless some third party is also accessing those objects. Additional memory is temporary allocated to deal with the parallel nature of the computation. Because of the overhead of maintaining multiple threads, the psort() family of routines may choose to just call qsort(3) when there is no advantage to parallelizing (for example, when the number of objects in the array is too small, or only one processor is available). Like qsort(3), the sort is not stable. RETURN VALUES
The psort(), psort_b() and psort_r() functions return no value. SEE ALSO
qsort(3) Mac OS X Nov 25, 2008 Mac OS X
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QSORT(3) BSD Library Functions Manual QSORT(3) NAME
heapsort, heapsort_b, mergesort, mergesort_b, qsort, qsort_b, qsort_r -- sort functions SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h> int heapsort(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *)); int heapsort_b(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (^compar)(const void *, const void *)); int mergesort(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *)); int mergesort_b(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (^compar)(const void *, const void *)); void qsort(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *)); void qsort_b(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, int (^compar)(const void *, const void *)); void qsort_r(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width, void *thunk, int (*compar)(void *, const void *, const void *)); DESCRIPTION
The qsort() function is a modified partition-exchange sort, or quicksort. The heapsort() function is a modified selection sort. The mergesort() function is a modified merge sort with exponential search, intended for sorting data with pre-existing order. The qsort() and heapsort() functions sort an array of nel objects, the initial member of which is pointed to by base. The size of each object is specified by width. The mergesort() function behaves similarly, but requires that width be greater than or equal to ``sizeof(void *) / 2''. The contents of the array base are sorted in ascending order according to a comparison function pointed to by compar, which requires two arguments pointing to the objects being compared. The comparison function must return an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first argument is considered to be respec- tively less than, equal to, or greater than the second. The qsort_r() function behaves identically to qsort(), except that it takes an additional argument, thunk, which is passed unchanged as the first argument to function pointed to compar. This allows the comparison function to access additional data without using global variables, and thus qsort_r() is suitable for use in functions which must be reentrant. The algorithms implemented by qsort(), qsort_r(), and heapsort() are not stable; that is, if two members compare as equal, their order in the sorted array is undefined. The mergesort() algorithm is stable. The qsort() and qsort_r() functions are an implementation of C.A.R. Hoare's ``quicksort'' algorithm, a variant of partition-exchange sort- ing; in particular, see D.E. Knuth's Algorithm Q. Quicksort takes O N lg N average time. This implementation uses median selection to avoid its O N**2 worst-case behavior. The heapsort() function is an implementation of J.W.J. William's ``heapsort'' algorithm, a variant of selection sorting; in particular, see D.E. Knuth's Algorithm H. Heapsort takes O N lg N worst-case time. Its only advantage over qsort() is that it uses almost no additional memory; while qsort() does not allocate memory, it is implemented using recursion. The function mergesort() requires additional memory of size nel * width bytes; it should be used only when space is not at a premium. The mergesort() function is optimized for data with pre-existing order; its worst case time is O N lg N; its best case is O N. Normally, qsort() is faster than mergesort() which is faster than heapsort(). Memory availability and pre-existing order in the data can make this untrue. The heapsort_b(), mergesort_b(), and qsort_b() routines are like the corresponding routines without the _b suffix, expect that the compar callback is a block pointer instead of a function pointer. RETURN VALUES
The qsort(), qsort_b() and qsort_r() functions return no value. The heapsort(), heapsort_b(), mergesort(), and mergesort_b() functions return the value 0 if successful; otherwise the value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error. COMPATIBILITY
Previous versions of qsort() did not permit the comparison routine itself to call qsort(3). This is no longer true. ERRORS
The heapsort(), heapsort_b(), mergesort(), and mergesort_b() functions succeed unless: [EINVAL] The width argument is zero, or, the width argument to mergesort() or mergesort_b() is less than ``sizeof(void *) / 2''. [ENOMEM] The heapsort(), heapsort_b(), mergesort(), or mergesort_b() functions were unable to allocate memory. SEE ALSO
sort(1), radixsort(3) Hoare, C.A.R., "Quicksort", The Computer Journal, 5:1, pp. 10-15, 1962. Williams, J.W.J, "Heapsort", Communications of the ACM, 7:1, pp. 347-348, 1964. Knuth, D.E., "Sorting and Searching", The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 3, pp. 114-123, 145-149, 1968. McIlroy, P.M., "Optimistic Sorting and Information Theoretic Complexity", Fourth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, January 1992. Bentley, J.L. and McIlroy, M.D., "Engineering a Sort Function", Software--Practice and Experience, Vol. 23(11), pp. 1249-1265, November 1993. STANDARDS
The qsort() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (``ISO C90''). BSD
September 30, 2003 BSD