Sort array JavaScript

In this article, we will be covering all sorting of arrays in JS and how to use the sort function in JavaScript. Before jumping directly to the functions in JS, we will learn about JavaScript and the basics of what exactly a sort function is in this context. So if you are new to all these concepts, don’t worry, we will be covering it right from the fundamentals and will then move to differences. So keep reading.

Introduction

JavaScript is one of the most used languages when it comes to building web applications as it allows developers to wrap HTML and CSS code in it to make web apps interactive. It enables the interaction of users with the web application. It is also used for making animations on websites and has a large community on GitHub. JavaScript has tons of libraries, one of which is React which we will be covering in this article later. Following are the applications of JS.

• Building web server and its interactive functions
• Animations and graphics, adding special effects to web components
• Validating forms and exception errors
• Adding behavior and functionalities to web pages

In JavaScript, promises are used to handle asynchronous operations. When dealing with several asynchronous activities, where callbacks might cause callback hell and unmanageable code, they are simple to manage. The following are the important points for JS.

• It is a scripting language
• It has unstructured code
• It is a programming language
• It is used both client-side and server-side to make web apps interactive
• It is built and maintained by Brendan Eich and the team
• Uses built-in browser DOM
• Extension of JavaScript file is .js

Array sort() function

The Array sort() technique is demonstrated here.

// JavaScript to illustrate sort() function
function func() {

	// Original string
	var arr = ["Code", "damn"]

	document.write(arr);
	document.write("<br>");
	// Sorting the array
	document.write(arr.sort());
}
func();
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The compare() function is used to sort the array in place, and the arr.sort() method is utilized to do so. If the method isn’t specified, the array is sorted ascending.

Syntax: arr.sort(compareFunction)

parameters: As mentioned above and described below, this procedure accepts only one parameter:

compareFunction: This argument is used to sort the elements in various order and according to different qualities.

• compareFunction(a,b) < 0
• compareFunction(a,b) > 0
• compareFunction(a,b) = 0

The value returned: This function returns the sorted original array’s reference. The JavaScript Array sort() technique is demonstrated in the following examples:

Example 1: The sort() method puts the members of the array in ascending order in this example.

var arr = [2, 5, 8, 1, 4]
document.write(arr.sort());
document.write(arr);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Example 2: In this example, the elements of the array are sorted using the sort() method, with the function applied to each element.

var arr = [2, 5, 8, 1, 4]
document.write(arr.sort(function(a, b) {
  return a + 2 * b;
}));
document.write(arr);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Example 3: We utilize the sort() method on an array of numbers in this example and witness some unexpected behavior.

let numbers = [20,5.2,-120,100,30,0]
console.log(numbers.sort())
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Our output should be -120, 0, 5.2, 20, 30, or 100, but why isn’t it? Because if we use the sort() method directly, it will process as follows: Because ‘2’ is larger than ‘1,’ 100 would come before 20, and similarly for 30 and 5.2 because ‘5’ is larger than ‘3.’ As a result, 30 would come before 5.2. We may fix this unexpected problem by utilizing the sort() method for numerics and comparing the results using the following comparison function:

let numbers = [20,5.2,-120,100,30,0];
function compare(a,b){
    return a-b;
}
console.log(numbers.sort(compare));
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Time Complexity: The sort() method’s time complexity varies and is dependent on the implementation.

In the Firefox web browser, for example, the merge sort implementation is used, which has a temporal complexity of O(nlogn). In Google Chrome, the Timsort implementation (a combination of merge sort and insertion sort) is used, which has a time complexity of O(nlogn).

Conclusion

This was all about the sort functions in JavaScript. If you have any query related to React or JavaScript, do drop it down in the comment section also do check out codedamn courses if you want to learn more about JavaScript and React with its use cases and amazing projects. They also have an in-built playground for different programming languages and environment sets so do check that out and join codedamn’s community! 

Hope you like it.