Sorting Steps

[Pedroski55]

To continue the saga: Can you explain why you chose the ifs and elifs you chose? I can't understand why you made the choices you made.

These 2 functions let you run things as many times as you want, more or less using your code.

Try it out, see what you get!

from random import randint

def makeList():
    move_count = position = direction = 0
    frog_list = [randint(0, 20) for i in range(6)]
    sorted_frogs = sorted(frog_list, reverse=True)
    return (move_count, frog_list, sorted_frogs)

def loop():
    start = makeList()
    move_count = position = direction = start[0]
    frog_list = start[1]
    sorted_frogs = start[2]
    while frog_list != sorted_frogs:
        if move_count == 0:
            print(f'Original frog_list = {frog_list}, position = {position}, direction = {direction}, move_count = {move_count}')
        if direction == 0: # direction starts as 0
            if frog_list[position] == frog_list[-2]: # why -2?
                print('This is direction = 0, if 1')
                print(f'frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]} , frog_list[-2] = {frog_list[-2]}')
                # simple bubble sort technique but how is that related to the above: if frog_list[position] == frog_list[-2]:??
                print(f'frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position + 1] = {frog_list[position + 1]}')
                frog_list[position], frog_list[position + 1] = frog_list[position + 1], frog_list[position]
                print(f'Swapped around: frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position + 1] = {frog_list[position + 1]}')
                position += 1
            elif frog_list[position] == frog_list[-1]: # why -1?
                print('This is elif 1')
                direction = 1
            elif frog_list[position + 2] > frog_list[position + 1]: # why +2 and plus +1?
                print('This is direction = 0, elif 2')
                print(f'frog_list[position + 2] = {frog_list[position + 2]}, frog_list[position + 1] = {frog_list[position + 1]}')
                frog_list[position], frog_list[position + 2] = frog_list[position + 2], frog_list[position]
                print(f'Swapped around: frog_list[position + 2] = {frog_list[position + 2]}, frog_list[position + 1] = {frog_list[position + 1]}')
                position += 2
            else:
                # same bubble sort condition as above in first if of direction == 0
                print('This is direction = 0, else') 
                print(f'frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position + 1] = {frog_list[position + 1]}')
                frog_list[position], frog_list[position + 1] = frog_list[position + 1], frog_list[position]
                print(f'Swapped around: frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position + 1] = {frog_list[position + 1]}')
                position += 1
        elif direction == 1:
            if frog_list[position] == frog_list[1]: # why 1??
                print('This is direction = 1, if 1')
                print(f'frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position - 1] = {frog_list[position - 1]}')
                frog_list[position], frog_list[position - 1] = frog_list[position - 1], frog_list[position]
                print(f'Swapped around: frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position - 1] = {frog_list[position - 1]}')
                position -= 1
            elif frog_list[position] == frog_list[0]: # why 0?
                print('This is direction = 1, elif 1')
                direction = 0
            elif frog_list[position - 2] < frog_list[position - 1]: # why -2 and -1?
                print('This is direction = 1, elif 2')
                print(f'frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position - 2] = {frog_list[position - 2]}')
                # reversed bubble sort condition
                frog_list[position], frog_list[position - 2] = frog_list[position - 2], frog_list[position]
                print(f'Swapped around: frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position -2] = {frog_list[position - 2]}')
                position -= 2
            else:
                print('This is direction = 1, else')
                print(f'frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position - 1] = {frog_list[position - 1]}')
                # reversed bubble sort condition
                frog_list[position], frog_list[position - 1] = frog_list[position - 1], frog_list[position]
                print(f'Swapped around: frog_list[position] = {frog_list[position]}, frog_list[position - 1] = {frog_list[position - 1]}')
                position -= 1
          
        move_count += 1
        print(f'frog_list = {frog_list}, position = {position}, direction = {direction}, move_count = {move_count}')

Now just run loop() in your IDE.

Your solution definitely works, it just seems a bit random in the choices you make!

This might take a long time on a large list!