Insertion Sort - Java Implementation

This section provides a tutorial on how to implement the Insertion Sort algorithm in Java. An implementation diagram is also provided.

Here is my Java implementation of Insertion Sort algorithm in the HyArrays.java class:

/* HyArrays.java
 * This class contains sorting methods similar to java.util.Arrays.sort().
 * All sorting methods should have a signature of
 * %Sort(Object[] a, int fromIndex, int toIndex)
 * where "fromIndex" is inclusive, and "toIndex" is exclusive.
 * Copyright (c) 2011 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
 */
public class HyArrays {
   public static void insertionSort(HyObject[] a, int fromIndex,
      int toIndex) {
      HyObject d;
      for (int i=fromIndex+1; i<toIndex; i++) {
         d = a[i];
         int j = i;
         while (j>fromIndex && (a[j-1]).compareTo(d)>0) {
            a[j] = a[j-1];
            j--;
         }
         a[j] = d;
      }
   }
}

The following diagram illustrates how this implementation works:

                             ----------24   4  53   ...            42
                            |               |   |                   |
        +-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------+
        |           |   |    /   /   /
        5   ...    17  20  29  36  39
        |           |   |   |           |                           |
fromIndex             j-1   j           i                   toIndex-1

Note that:

In case you are using older versions of Java that support only the raw "Comparable" interface type, here is my old implementation:

/* HyArraysOld.java
 * This class contains sorting methods similar to java.util.Arrays.sort().
 * All sorting methods should have a signature of
 * %Sort(Object[] a, int fromIndex, int toIndex)
 * where "fromIndex" is inclusive, and "toIndex" is exclusive.
 * Copyright (c) 2008 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
 */
public class HyArrays {
   public static void insertionSort(Object[] a, int fromIndex,
      int toIndex) {
      Object d;
      for (int i=fromIndex+1; i<toIndex; i++) {
         d = a[i];
         int j = i;
         while (j>fromIndex && ((Comparable)a[j-1]).compareTo(d)>0) {
            a[j] = a[j-1];
            j--;
         }
         a[j] = d;
      }
   }
}

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction of Sorting Algorithms

 Java API for Sorting Algorithms

Insertion Sort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Insertion Sort - Algorithm Introduction

Insertion Sort - Java Implementation

 Insertion Sort - Performance

 Insertion Sort - Implementation Improvements

 Selection Sort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Bubble Sort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Quicksort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Merge Sort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Heap Sort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Shell Sort Algorithm and Java Implementation

 Sorting Algorithms Implementations in PHP

 Sorting Algorithms Implementations in Perl

 Sorting Algorithms Implementations in Python

 Performance Summary of All Implementations

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB