Why does a sorting algoritm require nested loops ?

[dantheman4]

thanks

[itsme86]

If you can think of a more efficient way to sort without using nested loops, I'd be interested to hear it.

[itsme86]

Also, you can avoid nested loops if you utilize recursion, but it just adds unnecessary complexity:

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            int[] array = { 7, 2, 9, 8, 3, 4 };

            Sort(array);

            // Print the now sorted array
            for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; ++i)
                Console.Write("{0} ", array[i]);
            Console.WriteLine("");
        }

        private static void Sort(int[] array, int index = 0)
        {
            // Find the index (greater than or equal to the index passed in) with the smallest value
            int smallest = index;
            for (int i = index + 1; i < array.Length; ++i)
                if (array[i] < array[smallest])
                    smallest = i;

            // If the passed in index doesn't contain the smallest value, swap the values at the two indexes
            if (smallest != index)
            {
                int temp = array[smallest];
                array[smallest] = array[index];
                array[index] = temp;
            }

            // If we're not at the end of the array, sort the rest
            if (index < array.Length)
                Sort(array, index + 1);
        }
    }

Output...

2 3 4 7 8 9
Press any key to continue . . .