🎾 👲🏼 🙋🏻 Lomuto's triumphant return 🆘 👨🏼‍🎓 🍔

USA, Texas, Austin, Continental Club

Sunday, January 5, 1987

“Thanks for the invitation, Mr. Lomuto. I am returning to England soon, so it was just in time.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet me, mister… sir… Charles… Anthony Richard… Hoare. This is a great honor for me. I don't even know how to contact you. Do you have a knightly title?

“Call me Tony, and if you please, I'll call you Niko.

At first glance, this is a common sight: two people are enjoying whiskey. However, intriguing details are revealed to the careful observer. First of all - tension that could be cut with a knife.

Dressed in an impeccably tailored three-piece suit with the deliberate casualness of an Englishman, Tony Hoare was as much of Britain as a cup of tea. The humble expression on his face with which he sipped from his glass, without words, expressed his opinion in the argument between bourbon and scotch. Sitting opposite Niko Lomuto represented his complete opposite: a programmer dressed in jeans, mixing whiskey and cola (which was so outrageous for Tony that he immediately decided to explicitly ignore it - like a pungent smell of sweat or an insulting tattoo), in a state of a kind of relaxed awe in front of a giant computer science, whom he just met in person.

“Listen, Tony,” Nico said after he ran out of topics for his usual light conversation. - About that partitioning algorithm. I wasn't even going to publish it ...

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/**
Partition using the minimum of the first and last element as pivot.
Returns: a pointer to the final position of the pivot.
*/
long* hoare_partition(long* first, long* last) {
    assert(first <= last);
    if (last - first < 2)
        return first; // nothing interesting to do
    --last;
    if (*first > *last)
        swap(*first, *last);
    auto pivot_pos = first;
    auto pivot = *pivot_pos;
    for (;;) {
        ++first;
        auto f = *first;
        while (f < pivot)
            f = *++first;
        auto l = *last;
        while (pivot < l)
            l = *--last;
        if (first >= last)
            break;
        *first = l;
        *last = f;
        --last;
    }
    --first;
    swap(*first, *pivot_pos);
    return first;
}

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/**
Choose the pivot as the first element, then partition.
Returns: a pointer to the final position of the pivot. 
*/
long* lomuto_partition_naive(long* first, long* last) {
    assert(first <= last);
    if (last - first < 2)
        return first; // nothing interesting to do
    auto pivot_pos = first;
    auto pivot = *first;
    ++first;
    for (auto read = first; read < last; ++read) {
        if (*read < pivot) {
            swap(*read, *first);
            ++first;
        }
    }
    --first;
    swap(*first, *pivot_pos);
    return first;
}

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/**
Partition using the minimum of the first and last element as pivot. 
Returns: a pointer to the final position of the pivot.
*/
long* lomuto_partition(long* first, long* last) {
    assert(first <= last);
    if (last - first < 2)
        return first; // nothing interesting to do
    --last;
    if (*first > *last)
        swap(*first, *last);
    auto pivot_pos = first;
    auto pivot = *first;
    // Prelude: position first (the write head) on the first element
    // larger than the pivot.
    do {
        ++first;
    } while (*first < pivot);
    assert(first <= last);
    // Main course.
    for (auto read = first + 1; read < last; ++read) {
        auto x = *read;
        if (x < pivot) {
            *read = *first;
            *first = x;
            ++first;
        }
    }
    // Put the pivot where it belongs.
    assert(*first >= pivot);
    --first;
    *pivot_pos = *first;
    *first = pivot;
    return first;
}

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for (auto read = first + 1; read < last; ++read) {
    auto x = *read;
    if (x < pivot) {
        *read = *first;
        *first = x;
        ++first;
    }
}

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for (auto read = first + 1; read < last; ++read) {
    auto x = *read;
    if (x < pivot) {
        *read = *first;
        *first = x;
        first += 1; 
    } else {
        *read = x;
        *first = *first;
        first += 0; 
    }
}

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for (; read < last; ++read) {
    auto x = *read;
    auto smaller = -int(x < pivot);
    auto delta = smaller & (read - first);
    first[delta] = *first;
    read[-delta] = x;
    first -= smaller;
}

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x < pivot 1, :

auto x = *read;
int smaller = -1;
auto delta = -1 & (read - first);
*(first + (read - first)) = *first;
*(read - (read - first)) = x;
first -= -1;

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x < pivot — , delta , :

auto x = *read;
int smaller = 0;
auto delta = 0 & (read - first);
*(first + 0) = *first;
*(read - 0) = x;
first -= 0;

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long* lomuto_partition_branchfree(long* first, long* last) {
    assert(first <= last);
    if (last - first < 2)
        return first; // nothing interesting to do
    --last;
    if (*first > *last)
        swap(*first, *last);
    auto pivot_pos = first;
    auto pivot = *first;
    do {
        ++first;
        assert(first <= last);
    } while (*first < pivot);
    for (auto read = first + 1; read < last; ++read) {
        auto x = *read;
        auto smaller = -int(x < pivot);
        auto delta = smaller & (read - first);
        first[delta] = *first;
        read[-delta] = x;
        first -= smaller;
    }
    assert(*first >= pivot);
    --first;
    *pivot_pos = *first;
    *first = pivot;
    return first;
}