Recommendation

Has Potential

Link

http://www.cs.usfca.edu/galles/visualization/download.html

Delivery Method

Java Application

License

Unlicensed Sourcecode

Language

English

Author

David Galles

Institution

University of San Francisco

Project

Data Structure Visualization

RelationshipToProject

PartOfProject

Works

Yes

Description

Part of DSV integrated visualization suite. Swapping-bars paradigm with speed control and stepwise operation. Only random data sets.

Evaluation

This quick sort visualization uses bar-swapping paradigm. The user can step through the visualization or run it as an animation, with a slider used to control the speed. The visualization also adds actual values for the bars and array indices. Couple of strong points of this AV includes 1) data not under consideration is grayed out, and 2) the items being compared are highlighted. In particular the red line that is drawn across the bars at the height of the pivot makes the result of the comparisons very clear. However the visualization is not enough as a standalone explanation for quick sort algorithm. There is no code associated with the visualization. Especially this AV is lacking in explanation how partitioning works. It’s really hard to distinguish pivot from other bars; some sort of color distinction would help. There might be some confusion as to how to reset and restart the presentation. This tool could possibly be used as a teaching aid to visualize an explanation, but it’s not recommended as an independent learning tool. Also it really needs to be accompanied by some explanation.

ActivityLevel

Animation; Step Control; Random Data

GoodFor

Lecture Aid

Screenshots

Videos

References

HowToUse

First Visited

2006-11-07

Last Visited

2008-07-01

Last Updated

2006-04-05

Topic

QuickSort

Community

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