Sorting algorithms comparison - Firefox Developer Tools

This article describes a simple example program that we use in two of the Performance guides: the guide to the Call Tree and the guide to the Flame Chart.

This program compares the performance of three different sorting algorithms:

bubble sort
selection sort
quicksort

It consists of the following functions:

`sortAll()`	Top-level function. Iteratively (200 iterations) generates a randomized array and calls `sort()`.
`sort()`	Calls each of `bubbleSort()`, `selectionSort()`, `quickSort()` in turn and logs the result.
`bubbleSort()`	Implements a bubble sort, returning the sorted array.
`selectionSort()`	Implements a selection sort, returning the sorted array.
`quickSort()`	Implements quicksort, returning the sorted array.
`swap()`	Helper function for `bubbleSort()` and `selectionSort()`.
`partition()`	Helper function for `quickSort()`.

Its call graph looks like this:

sortAll()                     // (generate random array, then call sort) x 200

    -> sort()                 // sort with each algorithm, log the result

        -> bubbleSort()

            -> swap()

        -> selectionSort()

            -> swap()

        -> quickSort()

            -> partition()

The implementations of the sorting algorithms in the program are taken from https://github.com/nzakas/computer-science-in-javascript/ and are used under the MIT license.

You can try out the example program here and clone the code here (be sure to check out the gh-pages branch). You can also download the specific profile we discuss - just import it to the Performance tool if you want to follow along. Of course, you can generate your own profile, too, but the numbers will be a little different.