this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I hate when computer scientists use “sorting” for “ordering”. It’s been mistranslated into other languages, too.

[–] stelelor@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I am very new to the world of CS but I appreciate precise vocabulary. Is my understanding below correct?

  • Sorting = Assigning each object to one category ("bin").

  • Ordering = Like sorting, but the categories themselves have an inherent hierarchy/order (numerical, alphabetical, etc.)

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 3 points 11 months ago

Yes but people say “sorting algorithms” when describibg programs that put elements of a list in the correct order.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

sort, verb: "to put a number of things in an order or to separate them into groups"

[–] Wilzax@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Radix sort is truly a sorting algorithm though, it just results in an ordering.