JavaScript Selection Sort Algorithm Example

Selection Sort

The selection sort algorithm sorts an array by repeatedly finding the minimum element (considering ascending order) from unsorted part and putting it at the beginning. The algorithm maintains two subarrays in a given array.

1) The subarray is already sorted.
2) Remaining subarray which is unsorted.

In every iteration of selection sort, the minimum element (considering ascending order) from the unsorted subarray is picked and moved to the sorted subarray.

Implementation Example

const selectionSort = (array, compareFn = defaultCompare) => {
  const { length } = array;
  let indexMin;
  for (let i = 0; i < length - 1; i++) {
    indexMin = i;
    // console.log('index ' + array[i]);
    for (let j = i; j < length; j++) {
      if (compareFn(array[indexMin], array[j]) === Compare.BIGGER_THAN) {
        // console.log('new index min ' + array[j]);
        indexMin = j;
      }
    }
    if (i !== indexMin) {
      // console.log('swap ' + array[i] + ' with ' + array[indexMin]);
      swap(array, i, indexMin);
    }
  }
  return array;
};

function swap(array, a, b) {
  /* const temp = array[a];
  array[a] = array[b];
  array[b] = temp; */
  [array[a], array[b]] = [array[b], array[a]];
}

const Compare = {
  LESS_THAN: -1,
  BIGGER_THAN: 1,
  EQUALS: 0
};

function defaultCompare(a, b) {
  if (a === b) {
    return Compare.EQUALS;
  }
  return a < b ? Compare.LESS_THAN : Compare.BIGGER_THAN;
}

let array = [2,1,5,4,3,8,7,6];
array = selectionSort(array);
console.log(array);
Output:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

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