Selection Sort in C++

Question

I wrote a little C++ sorting routine for my Algorithm studies, but I feel that a lot can be skipped out.

I am aware that modern sort takes Iterators and comparator functions, let's disregard that for now. I just want to clean up this code. Specifically, I don't like the if and value variables.

I have looked into other solutions, but they didn't clear up much for me.

void SelectionSorter::sort(std::vector<int> &v){

    int currentIndex = 0;

    while (currentIndex < v.size()) {

        int indexOfSmallestItem = -1;
        int value = v[currentIndex];
        bool shouldSwap = false;

        for (int i = currentIndex; i < v.size(); i++) {
            if (v[i] < value) {
                value = v[i];
                indexOfSmallestItem = i;
                shouldSwap = true;
            }
        }

        if (shouldSwap) {
            int temp = v[currentIndex];
            v[currentIndex] = v[indexOfSmallestItem];
            v[indexOfSmallestItem] = temp;
        }

        currentIndex++;
    }
}

Answer 1

Some points:

1. The shouldSwap variable is not needed. Instead, set indexOfSmallestItem to currentIndex at the beginning of the loop (this is necessary for the next step to work) and check is the indexOfSmallestItem is currentIndex:

   if (indexOfSmallestItem != currentIndex) {
       int temp = v[currentIndex];
       v[currentIndex] = v[indexOfSmallestItem];
       v[indexOfSmallestItem] = temp;
   }
   

2. value is also not needed, as you can access the vector directly:

       if (v[i] < v[indexOfSmallestItem]) {
           value = v[i];
           indexOfSmallestItem = i;
       }
   

3. The outside while loop can be a for loop, because:

   int currentIndex = 0; // initialization
   
   while (currentIndex < v.size()) { // condition
   
       // ...
   
       currentIndex++; // increment
   }
   

   So it would be:

   for (int currentIndex = 0; currentIndex < v.size(); currentIndex++) {
       // ...
   }
   

4. You actually can start on currentIndex + 1 because the first one is the current value.

5. The naming of the vector is not good, as one-letter names are hard to read. Change it to vect or something similar.

Now all you need is the indexOfSmallestItem and the vector:

void SelectionSorter::sort(std::vector<int> &vect) {

    for (int currentIndex = 0; currentIndex < vect.size(); currentIndex++) {

        int indexOfSmallestItem = currentIndex;

        for (int i = currentIndex + 1; i < vect.size(); i++) {
            if (vect[i] < vect[indexOfSmallestItem]) {
                indexOfSmallestItem = i;
            }
        }

        if (indexOfSmallestItem != currentIndex) {
            int temp = vect[currentIndex];
            vect[currentIndex] = vect[indexOfSmallestItem];
            vect[indexOfSmallestItem] = temp;
        }

    }

}

Optionally, you can remove the if (indexOfSmallestItem != currentIndex) completely, as it is not much of an improvement.

Also, you can extract the swapping part into a method. In fact, you should. This makes code (even this size) easier to maintain.

void SelectionSorter::sort(std::vector<int> &vect) {
    for (int currentIndex = 0; currentIndex < vect.size(); currentIndex++) {
        int indexOfSmallestItem = currentIndex;
        for (int i = currentIndex + 1; i < vect.size(); i++) {
            if (vect[i] < vect[indexOfSmallestItem]) {
                indexOfSmallestItem = i;
            }
        }
        swap(vect, currentIndex, indexOfSmallestItem);
    }
}

void swap(std::vector<int> &vect, int i, int j) {
    int temp = vect[i];
    vect[i] = vect[j];
    vect[j] = temp;
}

Answer 2

Prefer high-level abstractions over low-level handcrafted code

Functions that try to do too much often become hard to read, extend, test, and debug. Functions should be focused and short. An easy way to tell whether or not you should refactor your code into smaller functions is the "And"-test. Describe what your function does. If your descriptions uses and, then you should consider splitting the function into its parts. For your selection sort, you would describe it by:

Iterate over each element. Find the index of the minimum element from the remaining elements and swap if that index is not our current index.

Write the small and focused min_element_index() and swap() functions.

#include <vector>

std::size_t min_element_index(const std::vector<int>& vec,
                              std::size_t startingIndex = 0) {
    for (auto candidate = startingIndex + 1; candidate < vec.size();
         ++candidate) {
        if (vec[candidate] < vec[startingIndex]) {
            startingIndex = candidate;
        }
    }
    return startingIndex;
}

void swap_by_index(std::vector<int>& vec, int first, int second) {
    const auto temp = vec[first];
    vec[first] = vec[second];
    vec[second] = temp;
}

Let sort() be a composed function of those two small, focused, and tested functions.

void SelectionSorter::sort(std::vector<int>& vec) {
    for (auto currentIndex = 0; currentIndex < vec.size(); ++currentIndex) {
        const auto indexOfSmallestItem = min_element_index(vec, currentIndex);
        swap_by_index(vec, currentIndex, indexOfSmallestItem);
    }
}

We gain reusable functions, avoid magic numbers (-1), and can const-qualify our immutable objects.

Prefer to treat warnings as errors

For these small learning programs and new code bases, turn up your warning level and treat warnings as errors. Older code bases should continue to use the same rules that are already being used.

You have mismatched sign comparisons for each std::vector<int>::size() comparison.

Use the C++ Style Declarator Layout

void SelectionSorter::sort(std::vector<int>& v) {
-------------------------------------------^

Also wasn't sure if the missing space before the { was intended. Utilize extensions/tools (Clang-Format, Astyle, etc) to maintain the style layout.