Question

I tried to write a countingsort, but there’s some problem with it.

here’s the code:

int *countSort(int* start, int* end, int maxvalue)
{
    int *B = new int[(int)(end-start)];
    int *C = new int[maxvalue];

    for (int i = 0; i < maxvalue; i++) 
    { 
        *(C+i) = 0; 
    }
    for (int *i = start; i < end; i++) 
    { 
        *(C+*i) += 1; 
    }
    for (int i = 1; i < maxvalue-1 ; i++) 
    { 
        *(C+i) += *(C+i-1); 
    } 
    for (int *i = end-1; i > start-1; i--) 
    { 
        *(B+*(C+(*i))) = *i; 
        *(C+(*i)) -= 1; 
    }
    return B;   
}

In the last loop it throws an exception “Acces violation writing at location: -some ram address-“

Where did I go wrong?

Answer 1

for (int i = 1; i < maxvalue-1 ; i++) 

That’s the incorrect upper bound. You want to go from 1 to maxvalue.

for (int *i = end-1; i > start-1; i--) 
{ 
    *(B+*(C+(*i))) = *i; 
    *(C+(*i)) -= 1; 
}

This loop is also completely incorrect. I don’t know what it does, but a brief mental test shows that the first iteration sets the element of B at the index of the value of the last element in the array to the number of times it shows. I guarantee that that is not correct. The last loop should be something like:

int* out = B;
int j=0; 
for (int i = 0; i < maxvalue; i++) {  //for each value
    for(j<C[i]; j++) {                //for the number of times its in the source
        *out = i;                     //add it to the output
        ++out;                        //in the next open slot
    }
}

As a final note, why are you playing with pointers like that?

*(B + i)  //is the same as
B[i]      //and people will hate you less

*(B+*(C+(*i))) //is the same as
B[C[*i]]