How to Sort in a Refrigerator: Simple Entropy-Sensitive Strictly In-Place Sorting Algorithms

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gila, Ofek, Goodrich, Michael T., Sridhar, Vinesh
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Gila, Ofek
Goodrich, Michael T.
Sridhar, Vinesh
author_facet Gila, Ofek
Goodrich, Michael T.
Sridhar, Vinesh
contents While modern general-purpose computing systems have ample amounts of memory, it is still the case that embedded computer systems, such as in a refrigerator, are memory limited; hence, such embedded systems motivate the need for strictly in-place algorithms, which use only O(1) additional memory besides that used for the input. In this paper, we provide the first comparison-based sorting algorithms that are strictly in-place and have a running time that is optimal in terms of the run-based entropy, H(A), of an input array, A, of size n. In particular, we describe two remarkably simple paradigms for implementing stack-based natural mergesort algorithms to be strictly in-place in O(n(1 + H(A))) time.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_05676
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How to Sort in a Refrigerator: Simple Entropy-Sensitive Strictly In-Place Sorting Algorithms
Gila, Ofek
Goodrich, Michael T.
Sridhar, Vinesh
Data Structures and Algorithms
While modern general-purpose computing systems have ample amounts of memory, it is still the case that embedded computer systems, such as in a refrigerator, are memory limited; hence, such embedded systems motivate the need for strictly in-place algorithms, which use only O(1) additional memory besides that used for the input. In this paper, we provide the first comparison-based sorting algorithms that are strictly in-place and have a running time that is optimal in terms of the run-based entropy, H(A), of an input array, A, of size n. In particular, we describe two remarkably simple paradigms for implementing stack-based natural mergesort algorithms to be strictly in-place in O(n(1 + H(A))) time.
title How to Sort in a Refrigerator: Simple Entropy-Sensitive Strictly In-Place Sorting Algorithms
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.05676