I have to organize a struct or an array of some people’s first name, last name, and age then organize them in alphabetical order writing them from an input file to an output file using the string library.
This is partically for a Lab that I have tomorrow afternoon in which my TA said we might be asked to complete the task I stated above. I’m trying to get opinions or suggestions from individuals whom are much more experienced in C than myself so I’ll be more prepared than I was last lab where I didn’t so hot.
I’m stuck, any suggestions on where I should start?
Well, reading and writing the input and output should be a no brainer (you open the file, read/write and then close it when you’re done with it).
The trick is to get those pesky strings sorted.
The way I look at strnig sorting is an array of arrays sorting. The first array-level is an iteration over all the structs while the second is an iteration over all the letters of a name (note that some names are longer then others)
1. First you sort the first column – all the first letters
2. Then all the sub-columns – within each first letter group you sort the second letter
3. Repeat 1&2 until you run out of letters to sort.
The sorting of an array of letters is the same as sorting an array of byte (AKA chars), and if you’re working with an algorithm like bubble sort, working on a sub array is seamless.
Hope this idea helps