English

Why Is Dual-Pivot Quicksort Fast?

Data Structures and Algorithms 2016-09-29 v2

Abstract

I discuss the new dual-pivot Quicksort that is nowadays used to sort arrays of primitive types in Java. I sketch theoretical analyses of this algorithm that offer a possible, and in my opinion plausible, explanation why (a) dual-pivot Quicksort is faster than the previously used (classic) Quicksort and (b) why this improvement was not already found much earlier.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1511.01138,
  title  = {Why Is Dual-Pivot Quicksort Fast?},
  author = {Sebastian Wild},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.01138},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

extended abstract for Theorietage 2015 (https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=55089) (v2 fixes a small bug in the pseudocode)

R2 v1 2026-06-22T11:36:58.831Z