Sorting Algorithms in Production: When, Why, and Time Complexity
With over a decade in software engineering, you quickly realize that sorting isn’t just a hurdle for technical interviews—it is a fundamental system design decision. Choosing the wrong sorting algorithm can lead to memory spikes, UI frame drops, and battery drain, especially on mobile devices. Most modern languages (including Swift) abstract sorting behind a simple .sort() method. However, understanding the underlying mechanisms is critical when building custom data pipelines, handling massive data sets, or optimizing for specific input distributions. ...