Applications of Radix Sort
- In a typical computer, which is a sequential random-access machine, where the records are keyed by multiple fields radix sort is used. For eg., you want to sort on three keys month, day, and year. You could compare two records on year, then on a tie on month and finally on the date. Alternatively, sorting the data three times using Radix sort first on the date, then on month, and finally on year could be used.
- It was used in card sorting machines with 80 columns, and in each column, the machine could punch a hole only in 12 places. The sorter was then programmed to sort the cards, depending upon which place the card had been punched. This was then used by the operator to collect the cards which had the 1st row punched, followed by the 2nd row, and so on.
Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages of Radix Sort
Radix Sort is a linear sorting algorithm that sorts elements by processing them digit by digit. It is an efficient sorting algorithm for integers or strings with fixed-size keys. Rather than comparing elements directly, Radix Sort distributes the elements into buckets based on each digit’s value. By repeatedly sorting the elements by their significant digits, from the least significant to the most significant, Radix Sort achieves the final sorted order.