Insertion Sort
Imagine you have a line of numbered blocks that you want to put in order from smallest to biggest. Insertion Sort is like how you might sort a hand of playing cards—by picking them up one at a time and placing them in the right spot.
How Does Insertion Sort Work?
- Start with One Block: Imagine you have a deck of cards. You start with one card and it’s already sorted.
- Pick the Next Block: Take the next block (card) and compare it with the blocks you’ve already sorted.
- Find the Right Spot: Insert this block into its correct position among the sorted blocks.
- Repeat: Repeat the process for each block until all the blocks are sorted.
Example:
Let’s sort these blocks using Insertion Sort: [64, 25, 12, 22, 11].
- Start with the first block:
[64](already sorted). - Take the next block (25):
[25, 64](25 is placed before 64). - Take the next block (12):
[12, 25, 64](12 is placed before 25). - Take the next block (22):
[12, 22, 25, 64](22 is placed between 12 and 25). - Take the next block (11):
[11, 12, 22, 25, 64](11 is placed before 12).
Why Use Insertion Sort?
- Simple to Understand: It’s like sorting a hand of cards—very intuitive!
- Good for Small Lists: Works well for small lists or lists that are already mostly sorted.
- Stable Sorting: Keeps the order of identical items as they were in the original list.
Conclusion:
Insertion Sort is a simple and intuitive way of sorting! It’s like organizing your toys or cards by picking one at a time and placing it in the right spot. Learning about Insertion Sort helps you understand basic sorting techniques, which are essential for solving problems and building cool things with computers!
