Quick Sort vs Heap Sort
Same 220 values, same shuffle, same speed. Quick Sort finishes first and turns gold: 2,856 operations to 4,307.
The numbers
- Quick operations
- 2,856
- Heap operations
- 4,307
- Quick average
- n log n
- Heap average
- n log n
- Quick worst
- n²
- Heap worst
- n log n
Quick Sort
Quick Sort picks a pivot, splits the list into smaller and larger halves, and sorts each half the same way. More on Quick Sort.
Heap Sort
Heap Sort builds a max-heap from the list, then repeatedly moves the largest value to the end. More on Heap Sort.
FAQ
Which is faster, Quick Sort or Heap Sort?
On this shuffle of 220 values, Quick Sort needed 2,856 operations and Heap Sort needed 4,307, about 1.5× as many. On average Quick Sort is n log n and Heap Sort is n log n.
Which one is stable?
Neither is stable.
How is the race fair?
Both algorithms start from the same shuffle and run the same number of operations per frame. Every comparison, swap and write counts as one operation, so the one that needs fewer operations finishes first.