When we talk about a sorting algorithm being stable, it means that it keeps the order of items that are the same.
In simpler words, if two things are equal, a stable sort makes sure that the one that came first in the list stays first after sorting.
Keeping Data Safe: This is important when the information you’re sorting has extra details. For example, if you have a list of employees sorted by their last names and you want to sort them by their first names next, a stable sort will keep the employees with the same last name in the same order.
Ease in Complex Sorting: Imagine you're sorting a list of books, first by title and then by author. If the sorting tool is stable, all books by the same author will stay in the same order they were in before.
Let’s look at this list of pairs: [(3, 'A'), (2, 'B'), (3, 'C')]. A stable sort will give you the result [(2, 'B'), (3, 'A'), (3, 'C')]. It keeps 'A' before 'C' like they were in the original list.
On the other hand, an unstable sort might return [(2, 'B'), (3, 'C'), (3, 'A')], which changes where 'A' and 'C' are.
When we talk about a sorting algorithm being stable, it means that it keeps the order of items that are the same.
In simpler words, if two things are equal, a stable sort makes sure that the one that came first in the list stays first after sorting.
Keeping Data Safe: This is important when the information you’re sorting has extra details. For example, if you have a list of employees sorted by their last names and you want to sort them by their first names next, a stable sort will keep the employees with the same last name in the same order.
Ease in Complex Sorting: Imagine you're sorting a list of books, first by title and then by author. If the sorting tool is stable, all books by the same author will stay in the same order they were in before.
Let’s look at this list of pairs: [(3, 'A'), (2, 'B'), (3, 'C')]. A stable sort will give you the result [(2, 'B'), (3, 'A'), (3, 'C')]. It keeps 'A' before 'C' like they were in the original list.
On the other hand, an unstable sort might return [(2, 'B'), (3, 'C'), (3, 'A')], which changes where 'A' and 'C' are.