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Understanding Merge Sort in TypeScript

Merge Sort is one of the fundamental sorting algorithms in computer science. It follows the divide and conquer paradigm and is known for its stable sorting behavior and efficient performance. In this blog post, we’ll explore the Merge Sort algorithm and implement it in TypeScript.

The Merge Sort Algorithm

The Merge Sort algorithm can be summarized in the following steps:

1. Divide: Split the unsorted list into smaller sublists, each containing one element. This is the base case for the recursion.
2. Conquer: Recursively sort each sublist.
3. Combine: Merge the sorted sublists to produce a new sorted list.

TypeScript Implementation

Let’s implement Merge Sort in TypeScript:

function merge(left: number[], right: number[]): number[] {
  const result: number[] = [];
  let leftIndex = 0;
  let rightIndex = 0;

  while (leftIndex < left.length && rightIndex < right.length) {
    if (left[leftIndex] < right[rightIndex]) {
      result.push(left[leftIndex]);
      leftIndex++;
    } else {
      result.push(right[rightIndex]);
      rightIndex++;
    }
  }

  return result.concat(left.slice(leftIndex), right.slice(rightIndex));
}

function mergeSort(arr: number[]): number[] {
  if (arr.length <= 1) {
    return arr;
  }

  const middle = Math.floor(arr.length / 2);
  const left = arr.slice(0, middle);
  const right = arr.slice(middle);

  return merge(mergeSort(left), mergeSort(right));
}

How It Works

• The merge function takes two sorted arrays, left and right, and combines them into a single sorted array.
• The mergeSort function recursively divides the input array into smaller subarrays until each subarray contains one element. Then, it merges the subarrays back together while sorting them.

Using Merge Sort

To use the Merge Sort algorithm, you can call the mergeSort function like this:

const unsortedArray = [5, 3, 8, 6, 2, 7, 4, 1];
const sortedArray = mergeSort(unsortedArray);
console.log(sortedArray); // Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Conclusion

Merge Sort is a highly efficient sorting algorithm with a time complexity of O(n log n). It is stable and can be used for sorting various data types. Understanding algorithms like Merge Sort is essential for any programmer and can improve your problem-solving skills.

In this blog post, we’ve explored the Merge Sort algorithm and implemented it in TypeScript. Feel free to use this implementation in your TypeScript projects and explore other sorting algorithms to deepen your understanding of computer science fundamentals.

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