""" This is a pure python implementation of the merge sort algorithm For doctests run following command: python -m doctest -v merge_sort.py or python3 -m doctest -v merge_sort.py For manual testing run: python merge_sort.py """ from __future__ import print_function def merge_sort(collection): """Pure implementation of the merge sort algorithm in Python :param collection: some mutable ordered collection with heterogeneous comparable items inside :return: the same collection ordered by ascending Examples: >>> merge_sort([0, 5, 3, 2, 2]) [0, 2, 2, 3, 5] >>> merge_sort([]) [] >>> merge_sort([-2, -5, -45]) [-45, -5, -2] """ length = len(collection) if length > 1: midpoint = length // 2 left_half = merge_sort(collection[:midpoint]) right_half = merge_sort(collection[midpoint:]) i = 0 j = 0 k = 0 left_length = len(left_half) right_length = len(right_half) while i < left_length and j < right_length: if left_half[i] < right_half[j]: collection[k] = left_half[i] i += 1 else: collection[k] = right_half[j] j += 1 k += 1 while i < left_length: collection[k] = left_half[i] i += 1 k += 1 while j < right_length: collection[k] = right_half[j] j += 1 k += 1 return collection if __name__ == '__main__': import sys # For python 2.x and 3.x compatibility: 3.x has no raw_input builtin # otherwise 2.x's input builtin function is too "smart" if sys.version_info.major < 3: input_function = raw_input else: input_function = input user_input = input_function('Enter numbers separated by a comma:\n') unsorted = [int(item) for item in user_input.split(',')] print(merge_sort(unsorted))