Author posted C version of their code[1]. As a couple of examples of how you can go back to idiomatic C++ starting from here: 1. replace all pointers by passing references to templatized vectors. On a high level of optimization they will be compiled to the same pointer arithmetic as C, but will give you type-safety on the source level. 2. Replace structs with clasess with short inlined accessors. On a high level of optimization they will be compiled to the same memory offset access 3. _If_ there is any value in making domain-specific sort generic - make it such

[1] https://gist.github.com/zeux/bf847986e0474cf48f61bb5749da38e...