bubble sorting an array using recursion (no loops) c++ - c++

Question

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
using std:: cin;
using std:: cout;
using std:: endl;
const int N=10;
void readarray(int array[], int N);
int bubble_sort (int array[], int size, int round,
int place);
int main ()
{
int array[N];
readarray( array, N );
int round, place;
cout << bubble_sort(array, N, place, round);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
void readarray(int array[], int N)
{
int i=0;
if (i < N)
{
cin >> array[i];
readarray(array+1, N-1);
}
}
int bubble_sort (int array[], int size, int round,
int place)
{
round =0;
place =0;
if (round < N-1) // this goes over the array again making sure it has
// sorted from lowest to highest
{
if (place < N - round -1) // this sorts the array only 2 cells at a
// time
if (array[0] > array[1])
{
int temp = array[1];
array[1]=array[0];
array[0]=temp;
return (array+1, size-1, place+1, round);
}
return (array+1, size-1, place, round+1);
}
}
I know how to do a bubble sort using two for loops and I want to do it using recursion. Using loops you require two for loops and I figured for recursion it might also need two recursive functions/calls. This is what I have so far. The problem is that its outputting only one number, which is either 1 or 0. I'm not sure if my returns are correct.

Answer 1

In c++11, you can do this:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
void swap(std::vector<int &numbers, size_t i, size_t j)
{
int t = numbers[i];
numbers[i] = numbers[j];
numbers[j] = t;
}
bool bubble_once(std::vector<int> &numbers, size_t at)
{
if (at >= numbers.size() - 1)
return false;
bool bubbled = numbers[at] > numbers[at+1];
if (bubbled)
swap(numbers, at, at+1);
return bubbled or bubble_once(numbers, at + 1);
}
void bubble_sort(std::vector<int> &numbers)
{
if ( bubble_once(numbers, 0) )
bubble_sort(numbers);
}
int main() {
std::vector<int> numbers = {1,4,3,6,2,3,7,8,3};
bubble_sort(numbers);
for (size_t i=0; i != numbers.size(); ++i)
std::cout << numbers[i] << ' ';
}
In general you can replace each loop by a recursive function which:
check the guard -> if fail return.
else execute body
recursively call function, typically with an incremented counter or something.
However, to prevent a(n actual) stack overflow, avoiding recursion where loops are equally adequate is good practice. Moreover, a loop has a very canonical form and hence is easy to read for many programmers, whereas recursion can be done in many, and hence is harder to read, test and verify. Oh, and recursion is typically slower as it needs to create a new stackframe (citation needed, not too sure).
EDIT
Using a plain array:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#define N 10
void swap(int *numbers, size_t i, size_t j)
{
int t = numbers[i];
numbers[i] = numbers[j];
numbers[j] = t;
}
bool bubble_once(int *numbers, size_t at)
{
if (at >= N - 1)
return false;
bool bubbled = numbers[at] > numbers[at+1];
if (bubbled)
swap(numbers, at, at+1);
return bubbled or bubble_once(numbers, at + 1);
}
void bubble_sort(int *numbers)
{
if ( bubble_once(numbers, 0) )
bubble_sort(numbers);
}
int main() {
int numbers[N] = {1,4,3,6,2,3,7,8,3,5};
bubble_sort(numbers);
for (size_t i=0; i != N; ++i)
std::cout << numbers[i] << ' ';
}

Answer 2

Please read this post
function pass(i,j,n,arr)
{
if(arr[i]>arr(j))
swap(arr[i],arr[j]);
if(j==n)
{
j=0;
i=i+1;
}
if(i==n+1)
return arr;
return pass(i,j+1,n,arr);
}