If you’re under the impression that something as simple as sorting numbers is dull, think again. This visualisation lets you see and hear 15 different algorithms sift their way through a jumbled mess of data — and it’s truly mesmerising.
The video shows the process — and matched “audibilisation” — of 15 different sorting algorithms dreamt up by computer scientists. While they all use different approaches, like divide and conquer or comparison sorting, they all have one fundamental aim: to sort random shuffles of integers into order.
If you’re really keen to geek out, the featured sorting techniques are, in order of appearance: selection sort, insertion sort, quick sort, merge sort, heap sort, radix sort (LSD), radix sort (MSD), std::sort (intro sort), std::stable_sort (adaptive merge sort), shell sort, bubble sort, cocktail shaker sort, gnome sort, bitonic sort and bogo sort.
But, really, it’s worth just watching them flash by — and taking a moment to think about how smart the guys that originally developed these things are. [YouTube via Reddit]