Thread: Selection Sort - Why does it sort only by descending or ascending, but not by value?

This program is designed to allocate dynamic memory using pointers and sort them ascending and descending. The problem is it will not sort the pointers by value. For example if I enter -1 2 3 -6 8. The ascending list will be -1 2 3 -6 8, and descending list will be 8 -6 3 2 -1. I would like it to be -6 -1 2 3 8 and vice-versa for the ascending and descending list respectively. I'm sure its something simple, but I just cannot seem to straighten the problem out.


If you scroll down to where my print function is, that is where i pass in "pointerArray" which is a double pointer. I also have "dataArray" being passed in, but it is unused for now. I want to sort "pointerArray" seperately from "dataArray."

Please help, and ask questions if I need to be more clear.

Code:

#include<iostream>
using std::cin;
using std::cout;
using std::cerr;
using std::endl;


#include <new>
using std::bad_alloc;


#include<cstdlib>

#define int_array 1
#define pointer2int_array 2





// Prototype declarations

int getSize();

void*  getArray( int &howMuch, int typeOf );

void populateArray( int num_of, int* ptr );

void printArray( int num_of, int** ptr, int*ptr2 );



/////////////////////////// -- main -- ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

int  main()
{

  int SIZE = getSize();

  int* dataArray =  ( int*) getArray(SIZE, int_array );
  int** pointerArray = ( int**)getArray(SIZE, pointer2int_array );
  
  for(int i=0; i<SIZE; i++)
  pointerArray[i] = &dataArray[i];
  
  populateArray(SIZE, dataArray);
  printArray(SIZE, pointerArray, dataArray);  //  sort and print array


  delete [] dataArray;
  delete [] pointerArray;

  cout << endl << endl;

  return ( 0 );

}


////////////////////////////////  -- end main --  ////////////////////////////////////////////////





/***************************************************************************************************
*
*   Function Name:        getSize
*
*   Purpose:            requests an integer from user
*
*   Input Parameters:        none
*
*   Output parameters:        none
*
*   Return Value:        retuns the user entered integer howMuch
*
***************************************************************************************************/

int getSize()
{
  int howMuch;
  cout << "enter the size of the array :  ";
  cin >> howMuch;
  return howMuch;

}



/***************************************************************************************************
*
*   Function Name:        getArray
*
*   Purpose:            dynamically allocates either an array of ints or an array of
*                int pointers
*
*   Input Parameters:        an int howMuch - the size of array to allocate
*                an int typeOf indicating the type of array to allocate
*
*   Output parameters:        none
*
*   Return Value:        returns a pointer to an int array or an array of int pointers
*
***************************************************************************************************/


void*  getArray( int &howMuch, int typeOf )
{

  try
    {
      switch ( typeOf )
        {
        case int_array:
        {
          int* p = new int [ howMuch ];
          return( p );
        }

        case pointer2int_array:
        {
          int** p = new int* [ howMuch ];
          return( p );
        }
        default:
        {
          cerr << " problem allocating array \n\n";
          exit( -666 );
        }

        }
    }
  catch ( bad_alloc &memoryAllocationException )
    {
      cerr << memoryAllocationException.what() << endl;
      exit( 666 );
    }


}



/***************************************************************************************************
*
*   Function Name     :       populateArray
*
*   Purpose           :       To give values to the array of ints or the array of int pointers, and
*                        sort the array in ascending value.
*   Input Parameters  :          an int num_of keeps track of the size of the array
*                        an int* ptr to pass in the dataArray variable
*
*   Output parameters :          none
*
*   Return Value      :          none
*
***************************************************************************************************/


void populateArray( int num_of, int* ptr )
{
    cout << "Enter the values for the array: ";
    for(int i=0; i<num_of; i++)
    cin >> ptr[i];
}

/***************************************************************************************************
*
*   Function Name     :            printArray
*
*   Purpose           :            sorts and prints out array of values in ascending, descending, and original order.
*
*
*   Input Parameters  :            an int num_of that counts the number of values in the array
*                        an int** ptr to pass in the pointer values
*   Output parameters :            none
*
*   Return Value      :            none
*
***************************************************************************************************/


void printArray( int num_of, int** ptr, int* ptr2 )  \\  sort & print
{
    for(int i=0; i<num_of; i++ )
    {
    int smallestIndex = i;

        for(int location = i; location <num_of; location++ )
            if( ptr[location] > ptr[smallestIndex])
                smallestIndex = location;
        int *temp = ptr[smallestIndex];
        ptr[smallestIndex] = ptr[i];
        ptr[i] = temp;
    }
         cout << "\nDescending List: ";
         for ( int i = 0 ; i < num_of; i++ )  //  print out values
             cout << *ptr[i] << " ";

}

Originally Posted by rcgldr

Shouldn't the compare in printArray() be if( *(ptr[location]) > *(ptr[smallestIndex]) ) ... ?

amazing, although i do not fully understand why.

It's because you decided to sort an array of pointers, and an expression of that form actually compares the data.