This applet lets you observe the dynamic operation of several basic sort algorithms. Generate a data set by clicking one of the data set buttons. This generates a data set with the appropriate characteristics.
Data sets have no duplicate entries except the Gaussian distribution.
Run one or more sort algorithms on the data set to see how the algorithm works. Each execution of a sort runs on the same data set until you generate a new one. The more spread out the points are the farther from being sorted the array is. The Gaussian data set has duplicates so it ends up as a curve instead of a line. The display shows a number of 'Ops' which is an approximation of the total number of comparisons and item swaps that occurred during the sort.