Performance Analysis of Various Sorting Algorithms: Comparison and Optimization

The word algorithm means a finite set of clearly defined instructions to be performed in calculations or coming up with the solution to a problem. This paper aims to deliver a single accurate academic record for analysis of practical performance (in terms of time) of most popular sorting algorithms across 4 major programming languages (C, C++, Java and Python) that are, In-Built Sorting Algorithms, Insertion Sort, Merge Sort, Quick Sort, Selection Sort, Counting Sort, Bubble Sort, Hybrid Quick Sort, Heap Sort, Radix Sort and Shell Sort. The paper also highlights how well each algorithm scales with the quantity of data as a consequence of time complexity of the algorithm and the choice of programming language. Matplotlib is used in the analysis of performance scalability. The associated project's code has been made open source to support further research as it provides precise and acceptably consistent performance data. The paper also helps one choose the best sorting algorithm for their use case based on the data and language of choice.