Problem: Write a C++ program to collect a positive integer n from the user, and then collect n character strings from the user (containing only lower case alphabets and no other characters, not even spaces). The strings need not be of equal length but the maximum length of any string should be 11. The strings should be stored in an appropriate 2D array. Your program should then include the following:

A function string_compare which takes two strings as input and returns 1 if the first string appears before the second string in alphabetical order, -1 if the second string appears before the first in alphabetical order, and 0 if the two strings are equal to each other. Do not use the inbuilt strcmp function.
A function string_sort which sorts the character strings using the mergesort algorithm taught in class. You are recommended to write a recursive implementation. You will automatically lose 50% of the marks for this program if you implemented the sorting within main.
Your program should then print out the strings in sorted alphabetical order, starting from the first to the last. Feel free to refer to the lecture slides for help.

Input Format
integer n, and a set of n character strings


Output Format
Print out the strings in the suggested order, one string on a new line


Constraints
n is a positive integer, n <= 15
For ease of display of the output, the maximum length of any of the strings should be 11, excluding the NULL character
The character strings should contain only lower case alphabets


Sample input and output




Input

Output

4

zebra

lion

tiger

monkey



lion

monkey

tiger

zebra







Note:  

Do not write any C++ statements for printing general messages. For example, the following should NOT be present in your program: 
cout << "Enter a number:",  
cout << "The computed answer is", etc.  


cout should be used to print only the computed final output. In addition, do not print unnecessary spaces unless specified in the program.

Student submission:
#include <iostream>
#define MAX 12
using namespace std;

void string_copy (char s1[], char s2[]){	//copies s2 into s1
	int i = 0;
	while (s2[i] != '\0'){
		s1[i] = s2[i];
		i++;
	}
	s1[i] = '\0';
}

int string_compare (char s1[], char s2[]){	//1 if s1 > s2, -1 if s1 < s2, 0 if equal
	int i = 0;
	while (true){
		if (s1[i] == '\0' and s2[i] == '\0') {return 0;}
		else if (s1[i] > s2[i]) {return 1;}	//0 is the smallest ASCII value so it doesn't matter if 1 string ends early
		else if (s1[i] < s2[i]) {return -1;}	//function will anyway consider it the smaller string
		i++;
	}
}

void merge (char s1[][MAX], char s2[][MAX], char s[][MAX], int n1, int n2){
	int cp1, cp2, cp;
	cp1 = cp2 = cp = 0;

	while (cp1 < n1 && cp2 < n2){
		if (string_compare(s1[cp1], s2[cp2]) == 1){	//if s1 is bigger s2 is merged first
			string_copy(s[cp], s2[cp2]);
			cp++; cp2++;
		}
		else {	//even if both strings are equal it's ok for s1 to get added first, doesn't matter
			string_copy(s[cp], s1[cp1]);
			cp++; cp1++;
		}
	}
	//remaining elements
	while (cp1 < n1) {
		string_copy(s[cp], s1[cp1]);
		cp++; cp1++;
	}
	while (cp2 < n2) {
		string_copy(s[cp], s2[cp2]);
		cp++; cp2++;
	}
}

void string_sort (char s[][MAX], int n){
	if (n <= 1) {return;}
	char s1[n/2][MAX],  s2[n-n/2][MAX];
	int i = 0;
	for (int i = 0; i < n/2; i++) {string_copy(s1[i], s[i]);}
	for (int i = n/2; i < n; i++) {string_copy(s2[i-n/2], s[i]);}
	string_sort(s1, n/2); string_sort(s2, n-n/2);
	merge(s1, s2, s, n/2, n-n/2);
}

int main(){
	int n; cin >> n;
	char s[n][MAX]; for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {cin >> s[i];}
	string_sort(s, n);
	for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {cout << s[i] << endl;}
}

Grading criterion: Is string_compare implemented correctly
Rating A: -1, +1 and 0 are correctly returned for their respective comparisons
Rating B: Atleast one of -1, +1 and 0 are correctly returned for their respective comparisons but not all three
Rating C: None of -1, +1 and 0 are correctly returned for their respective comparisons or if the code used strcmp function
Rating D: 0
Assigned grade: B