Re:Why does sorting in computer science mean ordering rather...
by outsidetheparty on Thursday September 06, 2018 @07:58AM
(#17925593)
He's referring to the dictionary definition of the word "sort".
Dictionary.com has it as "to arrange according to sort, kind, or class; separate into sorts; classify". I looked it up in the OED too -- mostly because we have one and I don't get enough excuses to use its nifty little magnifying glass -- and it also supports the notion that it means by category, not by order. The general verb definition is "to arrange things according to kind or quality", and there's a separate definition for software: "sort: Computers: the action of arranging items of data in a prescribed sequence".
Dictionary.com has it as "to arrange according to sort, kind, or class; separate into sorts; classify". I looked it up in the OED too -- mostly because we have one and I don't get enough excuses to use its nifty little magnifying glass -- and it also supports the notion that it means by category, not by order. The general verb definition is "to arrange things according to kind or quality", and there's a separate definition for software: "sort: Computers: the action of arranging items of data in a prescribed sequence".