[Tutor] Merge Sort Algorithm

[Elo Okonkwo]

This is the Result of that of the Merge Sort Function:
I have never been more confused!!, practically spent the whole day on
this piece of code:

Splitting  [54, 26, 93, 17, 77, 31, 44, 55, 20]
Splitting  [54, 26, 93, 17]
Splitting  [54, 26]
Splitting  [54]
Merging  [54]
Splitting  [26]
Merging  [26]
Merging  [26, 54]
Splitting  [93, 17]
Splitting  [93]
Merging  [93]
Splitting  [17]
Merging  [17]
Merging  [17, 93]
Merging  [17, 26, 54, 93]
Splitting  [77, 31, 44, 55, 20]
Splitting  [77, 31]
Splitting  [77]
Merging  [77]
Splitting  [31]
Merging  [31]
Merging  [31, 77]
Splitting  [44, 55, 20]
Splitting  [44]
Merging  [44]
Splitting  [55, 20]
Splitting  [55]
Merging  [55]
Splitting  [20]
Merging  [20]
Merging  [20, 55]
Merging  [20, 44, 55]
Merging  [20, 31, 44, 55, 77]
Merging  [17, 20, 26, 31, 44, 54, 55, 77, 93]
[17, 20, 26, 31, 44, 54, 55, 77, 93]

On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 3:56 PM, Elo Okonkwo <elo.okonkwo at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can someone pls explain this Merge Sort Algorithm, especially the Recursive
> bit of it.
>
> def mergeSort(alist):
>     print("Splitting ",alist)
>     if len(alist)>1:
>         mid = len(alist)//2
>         lefthalf = alist[:mid]
>         righthalf = alist[mid:]
>
>         mergeSort(lefthalf)
>         mergeSort(righthalf)
>
>         i=0
>         j=0
>         k=0
>         while i < len(lefthalf) and j < len(righthalf):
>             if lefthalf[i] < righthalf[j]:
>                 alist[k]=lefthalf[i]
>                 i=i+1
>             else:
>                 alist[k]=righthalf[j]
>                 j=j+1
>             k=k+1
>
>         while i < len(lefthalf):
>             alist[k]=lefthalf[i]
>             i=i+1
>             k=k+1
>
>         while j < len(righthalf):
>             alist[k]=righthalf[j]
>             j=j+1
>             k=k+1
>     print("Merging ",alist)
>
> alist = [54,26,93,17,77,31,44,55,20]
> mergeSort(alist)
> print(alist)