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I have coded a few sorting methods in C and I would like to find the input size at which the program is optimal (i.e.) profiling each algorithm. But how do I do this? I know to time each method, but I don’t know how I can find the size at which it is ‘optimal’.
Sort algorithms do not have a single number at which they are optimal.
For pure execution time, almost every sort algorithm will be fastest on a set of 2 numbers, but that it not useful in most cases.
Some sort algorithms may work more efficiently on smaller data sets, but that does not mean they are ‘optimal’ at that size.
Some sorts may also work better on other characteristics of the data. There are sorts that can be extremely efficient if the data is almost sorted already, but may be very slow if it is not. Others will run the same on any set of a given size.
It is more useful to look at the Big O of the sort (such as O(n^2), O(n log n) etc) and any special properties the sort has, such as operating on nearly sorted data.