Re: Baby X is bor nagain

Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> writes:

On 20/06/2024 16:05, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>

[.. on qsort compare function ..]

My reading of the C standard is that the comparison function
must impose a total ordering on the elements actually present
in the array, or is undefined behavior if it does not.  In
other words it's okay if the comparison function doesn't
define a proper order relation, as long as there are no
inconsistencies between values that actually occur in the
particular array being sorted.

>
Yes, a qsort written in the natural way can getstuck if a
sub0array it considered sorted becmes not sortted on the next
pass.

Not get stuck.  The array might not be sorted correctly,
but the algorithm doesn't get stuck.