The code snippet below is taken from the Grokking algorithm book:
const findSmallestIndex = (array) => {
let smallestElement = array[0]; // Stores the smallest value
let smallestIndex = 0; // Stores the index of the smallest value
for (let i = 1; i < array.length; i++) {
if (array[i] < smallestElement) {
smallestElement = array[i];
smallestIndex = i;
}
}
return smallestIndex;
};
// A function to sort the array using selection sort
const selectionSort = (array) => {
const sortedArray = [];
const length = array.length;
for (let i = 0; i < length; i++) {
// Finds the smallest element in the given array
const smallestIndex = findSmallestIndex(array);
// Adds the smallest element to new array
sortedArray.push(array.splice(smallestIndex, 1)[0]);
}
return sortedArray;
};
console.log(selectionSort([5, 3, 6, 2, 10])); // [2, 3, 5, 6, 10]
In the selectionSort function, it was necessary to store the array's length in a variable to make it work correctly. Attempting to avoid storing the length in a variable caused issues:
const selectionSort = (array) => {
const sortedArray = [];
for (let i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
// Finds the smallest element in the given array
const smallestIndex = findSmallestIndex(array);
// Adds the smallest element to new array
sortedArray.push(array.splice(smallestIndex, 1)[0]);
}
return sortedArray;
};
console.log(selectionSort([5, 3, 6, 2, 10])); // [2, 3, 5]
The issue may lie with the splice method as it reduces the array's length during each iteration. Although the index might not be crucial in this context, it could potentially be causing the problem!