Is this code a bubble sorting program? - c++

Question

I made a simple bubble sorting program, the code works but I do not know if its correct.
What I understand about the bubble sorting algorithm is that it checks an element and the other element beside it.
#include <iostream>
#include <array>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int a, b, c, d, e, smaller = 0,bigger = 0;
cin >> a >> b >> c >> d >> e;
int test1[5] = { a,b,c,d,e };
for (int test2 = 0; test2 != 5; ++test2)
{
for (int cntr1 = 0, cntr2 = 1; cntr2 != 5; ++cntr1,++cntr2)
{
if (test1[cntr1] > test1[cntr2]) /*if first is bigger than second*/{
bigger = test1[cntr1];
smaller = test1[cntr2];
test1[cntr1] = smaller;
test1[cntr2] = bigger;
}
}
}
for (auto test69 : test1)
{
cout << test69 << endl;
}
system("pause");
}

Answer 1

It is a bubblesort implementation. It just is a very basic one.
Two improvements:
the outerloop iteration may be one shorter each time since you're guaranteed that the last element of the previous iteration will be the largest.
when no swap is done during an iteration, you're finished. (which is part of the definition of bubblesort in wikipedia)
Some comments:
use better variable names (test2?)
use the size of the container or the range, don't hardcode 5.
using std::swap() to swap variables leads to simpler code.
Here is a more generic example using (random access) iterators with my suggested improvements and comments and here with the improvement proposed by Yves Daoust (iterate up to last swap) with debug-prints

Answer 2

The correctness of your algorithm can be explained as follows.
In the first pass (inner loop), the comparison T[i] > T[i+1] with a possible swap makes sure that the largest of T[i], T[i+1] is on the right. Repeating for all pairs from left to right makes sure that in the end T[N-1] holds the largest element. (The fact that the array is only modified by swaps ensures that no element is lost or duplicated.)
In the second pass, by the same reasoning, the largest of the N-1 first elements goes to T[N-2], and it stays there because T[N-1] is larger.
More generally, in the Kth pass, the largest of the N-K+1 first element goes to T[N-K], stays there, and the next elements are left unchanged (because they are already increasing).
Thus, after N passes, all elements are in place.
This hints a simple optimization: all elements following the last swap in a pass are in place (otherwise the swap wouldn't be the last). So you can record the position of the last swap and perform the next pass up to that location only.
Though this change doesn't seem to improve a lot, it can reduce the number of passes. Indeed by this procedure, the number of passes equals the largest displacement, i.e. the number of steps an element has to take to get to its proper place (elements too much on the right only move one position at a time).
In some configurations, this number can be small. For instance, sorting an already sorted array takes a single pass, and sorting an array with all elements swapped in pairs takes two. This is an improvement from O(N²) to O(N) !

Answer 3

Yes. Your code works just like Bubble Sort.
Input: 3 5 1 8 2
Output after each iteration:
3 1 5 2 8
1 3 2 5 8
1 2 3 5 8
1 2 3 5 8
1 2 3 5 8
1 2 3 5 8
Actually, in the inner loop, we don't need to go till the end of the array from the second iteration onwards because the heaviest element of the previous iteration is already at the last. But that doesn't better the time complexity much. So, you are good to go..
Small Informal Proof:
The idea behind your sorting algorithm is that you go though the array of values (left to right). Let's call it a pass. During the pass pairs of values are checked and swapped to be in correct order (higher right).
During first pass the maximum value will be reached. When reached, the max will be higher then value next to it, so they will be swapped. This means that max will become part of next pair in the pass. This repeats until pass is completed and max moves to the right end of the array.
During second pass the same is true for the second highest value in the array. Only difference is it will not be swapped with the max at the end. Now two most right values are correctly set.
In every next pass one value will be sorted out to the right.
There are N values and N passes. This means that after N passes all N values will be sorted like:
{kth largest, (k-1)th largest,...... 2nd largest, largest}

Answer 4

No it isn't. It is worse. There is no point whatsoever in the variable cntr1. You should be using test1 here, and you should be referring to one of the many canonical implementations of bubblesort rather than trying to make it up for yourself.