Sound Of Sorting

Sound Of Sorting is designed to be an engaging yet educational tool for the demonstration and visualisation of a variety of sorting algorithms.

To get started, either download the latest release or see Build Instructions to build the program yourself.

See documentation.pdf for a more in-depth explanation of the program.

The tool was inspired by Timo Bingmann's own 'Sound of Sorting' application.
https://panthema.net/2013/sound-of-sorting/

Features

• 15 different sorting algorithms.

• Two distinct visualisation methods:

  • Bars - The data is represented using a series of rectangular bars similar to those of a bar chart where the data value corresponds to the height of the bar. In this mode a greater level of detail is displayed by highlighting specific bars a different colour to represent 'special' values e.g. the boundary positions in a merge sort.

  • Image - The data is represented as pixels in an image with the value being associated with the position / colour of each pixel (bottom-left to top-right).

• In addition to visualising, the program will also generate an audible tone upon each comparison (and other operations), corresponding to the values of the data being compared.

• Speed and playback controls - Start, Pause, Step.

• Shuffle, reverse and preset options.

• Live updating statistics displaying various measurements relating to the current sort e.g. number of comparisons. At the end of a sort, these statistics are output to a CSV file for later comparison.

Implemented Algorithms

Bogo, Bozo, Bubble, Cocktail, Comb, Exchange, Gnome, Insertion, Merge, OddEven, Pancake, Quick, Selection, Shell, Slow

Quick Start

The program is designed to be easy and intuitive to use with the window divided into two sections - the visualiser and the settings panel.

To get started expand the Sort dropdown to select an algorithm and adjust the Size slider to the desired array size. Press the Start button to begin the sort. (It is not necessary to manually shuffle the array before sorting.)

To change the delay between operations, adjust the Speed slider between 0ms and 100ms. (A value of 0 may be too fast for most array sizes and sorting algorithms.)

There are two modes for the visualiser - Bars and Image. Press the Render Switch button to switch between the two.

To add an image file to the program simply drag and drop the file onto the program window.
Note the image can be atmost 4096 pixels (64x64).

Keybinds

• Enter - Start
• Space - Step
• P - Pause
• R - Reset
• M - Mute
• Backspace - Random
• E - Render mode
• C - Clear error

The arrow keys can also be used to increment / decrement the sliders and scroll the dropdowns.

Build Instructions

To build the .jar yourself:

• Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/Tangent5969/Sorting.git
• Navigate to 'Sorting' cd Sorting/Sorting
• Build gradlew desktop:dist

The .jar file is located at Sorting\Sorting\desktop\build\libs\desktop-1.0.jar