Merge Sort Algorithm | Python Sorting Techniques

Introduction

Merge sort is a popular sorting algorithm that uses the divide-and-conquer approach to sort an array. It is a stable, comparison-based algorithm that has a time complexity of O(n log n).

Skills Graph

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Merge Sort

Problem

Implement merge sort in Python. Given an unsorted array, the algorithm should sort the array in ascending order. The algorithm should be able to handle arrays of any length and should work for both integers and strings.

Requirements

To implement merge sort in Python, the following requirements must be met:

The algorithm should use the divide-and-conquer approach.
The algorithm should be able to handle arrays of any length.
The algorithm should work for both integers and strings.
The algorithm should sort the array in ascending order.
The time complexity of the algorithm should be O(n log n).
The algorithm should be implemented in Python.

Example Usage

The following examples demonstrate the usage of merge sort:

None -> Exception: The algorithm should raise an exception if the input is None.
Empty input -> []: The algorithm should return an empty array if the input is an empty array.
One element -> [element]: The algorithm should return the same array if the input contains only one element.
Two or more elements: The algorithm should sort the array in ascending order. If the left and right subarrays have different lengths, the algorithm should still be able to sort the array correctly.

Summary

Merge sort is a popular sorting algorithm that uses the divide-and-conquer approach to sort an array. To implement merge sort in Python, the algorithm should use the divide-and-conquer approach, handle arrays of any length, work for both integers and strings, sort the array in ascending order, have a time complexity of O(n log n), and be implemented in Python. The algorithm should raise an exception if the input is None, return an empty array if the input is an empty array, return the same array if the input contains only one element, and sort the array correctly if the left and right subarrays have different lengths.

Efficient Merge Sort Algorithm Implementation