Programming BASIC and Sorting - Computerphile

The sights and sounds of sorting! - Alex takes inspiration from our BBC microcomputer film and combines BASIC programming with some popular sorting algorithms.

The YouTube films that inspired Alex:

This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.

[toobeetoobeetoo]

Loved this video because it showed the general steps in what he did to solve the problem. This is a huge part of computer science, because generally each of those steps you break down into a language the computer understands. So what programming is, is breaking down your problem into smaller questions such that each is easily solvable by computer. That's the basics of programming. Optimization is the art of combining steps to solve multiple things at once.

[Mido]

It takes us back to a different age of *computer*, where everything had to be painstakingly entered by hand, and tiny little modifications (like *sounds*) used to mean a lot for aspiring programmers who used to tinker with these modest machines.

It also illustrates the inner workings of different sorting algorithms through bar graphs and sounds, demonstrating how quicksort has always got the upper hand.

It's beautiful video. :)

[wbwsn]

REM stands for "remark" as in this line is a remark, an annotation.

[jpmthemonk]

"haven't got there yet" This is sooo encouraging! Computerphile is quickly becoming my favorite channel.

[arifnadeem]

Wow you are teaching sorting algorithms with 70's audio, graphics and BASIC programming language! This must be the nerdiest and the best way to learn algorithms especially for the newer programmers and it will work because it is very eye catching.

[MrGoatflakes]

Wow his eyes are really, really blue :p

[TensionFreeTape]

I'm really enjoying this thread of the series.

Something I'd love to see in a future video is a demonstration/discussion of why we still use O(n^2) sorts from time to time, despite the existence of O(n log n) algorithms. If I remember correctly, the typical example is quicksort with insertion sort once the sub-list is under a certain length.

A nice, clear explanation of the difference between an algorithm's "speed" and "asymptotic behaviour" would be a pleasure to watch.

[AlexPinkney]

It's conceptually easy to understand, the code is very short, and it's an excellent example of why computational complexity matters.

[bigbenhebdomadarius]

REM = "remark, " not "reminder"!

[seigeengine]

This.

Immediate feedback is a great way to get someone enthusiastic about something. Especially when it's visual.

[AlanKey]

That book of "Games for your BBC Micro" is an incredible concept!
Imagine if modern games were distributed in that way... I wonder how many pages they would occupy?

[deldarel]

this channel actually got me into coding xD I'm looking for books to learn C++.
I still like numberphile better, but I never expected computerphile to be this interesting.

[thebittenmac]

Thanks for the video. It put me back in time (1982) when I started with computers and BASIC and there was a strong debate about sorting algorythms.

[rclay]

As a current CS student your channel is amazing! Keep up the good work.

[Computerphile]

Fair point on 'BASIC' - fixed :) Thanks >Sean

[RyanJensenEE]

Computerphile videos are part of a select tier of videos that I unconditionally watch when they come out.
:3

[Falcrist]

I am unbelievably excited for the future of this channel.
It's already excellent. Keep up the good work!

[dudewhoisnotfunny]

Watching as a computer science student I learned a lot of this in highschool but this was still very entertaining to watch. They should teach sorting like this in high school computer science

[edgeeffect]

When I was at college the Shell-sort was the "in thing" for sorting... I was surprised to not hear that mentioned here.

[sharnrock]

Assembly code is machine code with a little bit of English. In assembly you actually control the data as it goes to different parts of the processor called registers. It takes a much longer time to code with assembly as opposed to something like C++ where you call a function that already has a bunch of machine code stored in a library behind it. If you know the inner workings of a computer assembly can make very tight, optimized programs.