Sorting Algorithms As Dances 68
mikejuk writes "You may well have seen many simulations of sorting algorithms that aim to show how the algorithm works. However I guarantee that you have never seen anything quite in the same league as the videos made by Sapientia University — they are simply crazy but in the nicest possible way. They folk dance their way though bubble sort, shell sort, insertion sort and selection sort. Very, very weird but you find you can't but help checking that they are doing it right. Now anyone want to try quicksort?"
5 minute video (Score:1)
That's why we use computers for algorithms. Neat idea though.
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Yes, but they were using inefficient algorithms. A quicksort, for example, would be much faster, and could also be done in parallel.
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I don't know why they didn't do quicksort. That would have been a much more interesting dance to watch, because they would all be dancing in parallel.
Re:5 minute video (Score:5, Funny)
That's why we use computers for algorithms. Neat idea though.
See, that's what you get with interpretive dance.
A compiled dance would be much more efficient.
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..and you win "+1 Statement of the bleedin' obvious" ;)
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But require twice as many dancers wearing twice as many costumes.
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*slow clap*
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See, that's what you get with interpretive dance.
A compiled dance would be much more efficient.
Ah but a translation would work fine also... Although we may need someone that knows how to interpret this in order to properly create an efficient translation...
Re:5 minute video (Score:5, Funny)
So really, even if you compile the dance, I think you'll find that the dynamic binding overhead will kill the running performance.
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Pfft, real programming languages have static polymorphism.
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Yeah, slashdotters are getting stupider by the week.
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I'm pretty sure it's neither. He just aimed at +1 Funny.
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They'd have to be able to do something similar to mitosis: split in two repeatedly and then merge again.
Or maybe something like Inception wherein it's a dance within a dream within a dream within the Matrix within a dream.
Re:Where is the quick sort or merge sort dances? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, there's never been any kind of line dance where the dancers split into two groups, do stuff, and than merge back into the larger group in some ordered fashion....
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I suppose the real problem is that if you take advantage of parallelism, a sort-dance could be over before anyone had a chance to see what was going on.
Not quicksort though. That would be a cool dance, as long as you pre-unsort the dancers to avoid the degenerate case: The "pivot" steps out, then the whole line comes forward and crosses to either side based on the comparison, then each side does the same trick, so you want at least the first iteration to be fairly even.
They tried bogosort... (Score:5, Funny)
...but it was indistinguishable from a bunch of drunk guys stumbling around in a crowded SF Muni station.
Laugh all you like (Score:2)
A quantum bogosort could be solved with a time complexity of O(n).
That's several spawned universes worth of stumbling, drunken Muni passengers (or dancers), and one hell of an efficient sort.
what sort of dance is this? (Score:2)
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Funny, too, I think Quick Sort would be marvelous as an interpretive dance.
Missing option (Score:3)
I'm disappointed that they don't have a video demonstrating Stooge Sort [wikipedia.org].
parallel versions (Score:5, Interesting)
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I think you could do quicksort that way without being confusing. Have them come in as a line, with the first person (who happens to conveniently be 4) splits them into two groups. He then moves to the background while the two groups split again (on 1 or 2 and 7). This leaves only pairs, who reorder as necessary, then everybody comes back into one line. Quite simple, so long as you choose the initial sorting carefully.
Calling this dance... (Score:2)
Push her to the right if you're lookin' t'ward at the sky
Pass her to the left if your eyes are looking low.
Lather, rinse, repeat folks - Do Si Do.
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I want every algorithm expressed in dance. It's the only way it makes sense.
Genetic sorting algorithm (Score:2)
Anyone participating in these dances is unlikely to ever be permitted to mate with anyone of the opposite sex. So I guess this is a genetic sorting algorithm called "End-of-the-line sort". Now all we need to make this truly cringeworth is the right (wrong!) lyrics.
"Baby, you've reached the end of the line tonight See-Arrr-Elll-Effff!
There ain't no way you'll pass on your code tonight See-Arrr-Elll-Effff!"
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Anyone participating in these dances is unlikely to ever be permitted to mate with anyone of the opposite sex. So I guess this is a genetic sorting algorithm called "End-of-the-line sort".
Um, speaking from personal experience, participating in dance (yes, even folk dance) is pretty much the most surefire way to get laid ever. Social and folk dances are basically just a codified means of getting members of the opposite sex to interact with each other.
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As there were members of both genders involved in the dancing your comment doesn't make any sense.
It is possible to have members of the same gender in a room and not have any mating happening for a wide gamut of reasons. It only makes no sense because you learnt your logic skills watching episodes of Mythbusters.
Just imagine quicksort as a.. (Score:1)
Dance Your PhD (Score:3)
I guarantee that you have never seen anything quite in the same league as the videos made by Sapientia University
Without diminishing the creativity of these videos, I recommend that if you enjoyed these you might do a Google search for "Dance Your PhD".
Selection of a DNA aptamer for homocysteine using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/and-the-dance-your-phd-winner-is.html [sciencemag.org]
Nucleic acids never looked so good.
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They tried it. Unfortunately, the camera watching them always destroyed the quantum state. :-)
what, no heapsort? (Score:2)
Another nicely weird s.a.
Had it at school already (Score:4, Interesting)
My intro-to-CS professor (20 years ago... my, how time flies) used to illustrate sorting algorithms by sorting the students in class by height. :)
Once someone participates in a sorting algorithm, they sure won't forget
Dance to assembly (Score:1)
Now I wanna see a dance of bits being changed in an ALU. That should be entertaining.
Heck, we could even write an asm program and have it ran by a dance processor...
Quicksort. (Score:2)
That was cool, but when clicking the link I really, really wanted to see quicksort done as a dance. Curse me and my expectations.
Anybody know of any entertaining visual representation of quicksort?
How about sorting Dances as Algorithms? (Score:2)
Actually this is probably what dance theory is all about right? Might provide a useful abstraction of the subject though. Maybe there's a thesis in this for some non-tech averse grad student!
Line dancing (Score:1)
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