Start here

This term you search a list. Then you put it in order. You also count the work.

What you will learn

• Is it there at all? — check each item, say true or false.
• Where exactly — a counted loop: start (init), test, update, traced.
• In order first — a search that halves a sorted list.
• Counting both searches — the checks, called comparisons, side by side.
• One pass of selection — find the smallest, swap it to the front.
• The whole sort — repeat the pass until each item is placed.
• Sort once, search many — when sorting first saves work.
• How the count grows — double the list, watch each count.

Need a quick recap?

• Return sends one value back to the code that asked.
• A position finds one item in a list.
• Halving checks the middle and rules out half.

The code here is plain code, not Python. The ideas also work in Python.