Chapter 2, Problem 12P

The bubble sort is an inefficient, but easy-to-program, sorting technique. The idea behind the sort is to move down through an array comparing adjacent pairs and swapping the values if they are out of order. For this method to sort the array completely, it may need to pass through it many times. As the passes proceed for an ascending-order sort, the smaller elements in the array appear to rise toward the top like bubbles. Eventually, there will be a pass through the array where no swaps are required. Then, the array is sorted. After the first pass, the largest value in the array drops directly to the bottom. Consequently, the second pass only has to proceed to the second-to-last value, and so on. Develop a program to set up an array of 20 random numbers and sort them in ascending order with the bubble sort (Fig. P2.12).

FIGURE P2.12