Push Swap

About

Push swap is an algorithmic project developed in the C programming language, with the goal of sorting a list of integers using the smallest possible number of operations. It relies solely on two stacks (a and b) and a limited set of instructions. The challenge pushes the developer to implement efficient sorting algorithms under strict operational constraints, encouraging a deep understanding of algorithmic complexity, data structure manipulation, and optimization techniques.

The main application, push_swap, takes a sequence of integers as input and returns the shortest sequence of instructions needed to sort them. Optionally, a bonus program called checker can be developed to validate whether the generated sequence actually sorts the numbers correctly.

Build

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/joseevilasio/push_swap_42.git

Enter the cloned directory:

cd push_swap_42

Run make to compile the program:

make

Usage

Start the program:

$>./push_swap 2 1 3 6 5 8
sa
pb
pb
pb
sa
pa
pa
pa
$>./push_swap 0 one 2 3
Error
$>

Usage Bonus

Run make bonus to compile the program:

Start the program:

$>./checker 3 2 1 0
rra
pb
sa
rra
pa
OK
$>./checker 3 2 1 0
sa
rra
pb
KO
$>./checker 3 2 one 0
Error
$>./checker "" 1
Error
$>

The Norm

This project is written in accordance to the 42 School's "The Norm" (Version 4). To review the Norm, click here.

Contributions

If you find any issues or have suggestions for improvements, please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

Message to students

If you are searching resources to learn more about your own Push Swap, I encourage you to turn to your peers and the function manuals. Do not implement any code you do not understand and cannot code from scratch.