universal_radix_sort 1.0.0

A high-performance, generic Radix Sort implementation for Rust supporting integers, floats, and strings
Documentation
//! # Universal Radix Sort
//!
//! A high-performance, generic Radix Sort implementation for Rust. This library provides
//! a non-comparative sorting algorithm capable of sorting **integers**, **floating-point numbers**,
//! and **strings** with O(n·k) time complexity.
//!
//! It is designed to outperform standard comparison-based sorts (like QuickSort or MergeSort,
//! which are O(n log n)) when dealing with large datasets of numbers or fixed-length strings.
//!
//! ## Features
//!
//! - **Fast**: Linear time complexity O(n·k) where k is the number of bytes/digits
//! - **Universal**: Supports `i8`-`i128`, `u8`-`u128`, `f32`, `f64`, and `String`
//! - **Safe**: Handles `NaN`, `Infinity`, empty collections, and edge cases gracefully
//! - **Flexible**: Supports ascending and descending order
//! - **Memory Efficient**: Configurable options for in-place or allocated sorting
//! - **Zero Dependencies**: Core functionality has no external dependencies
//!
//! ## Installation
//!
//! Add this to your `Cargo.toml`:
//!
//! ```toml
//! [dependencies]
//! universal_radix_sort = "1.0.0"
//! ```
//!
//! ## Quick Start
//!
//! ### Sorting Integers
//!
//! ```rust
//! use universal_radix_sort::{RadixSort, RadixDataType, SortDirection};
//!
//! let mut numbers = vec![170, -45, 75, -9000, 802, 24, 2, 66];
//! let sorter = RadixSort::<i64>::new(RadixDataType::SignedInteger, SortDirection::Ascending);
//! sorter.sort(&mut numbers);
//!
//! assert_eq!(numbers, vec![-9000, -45, 2, 24, 66, 75, 170, 802]);
//! ```
//!
//! ### Sorting Floating-Point Numbers
//!
//! ```rust
//! use universal_radix_sort::{RadixSort, RadixDataType, SortDirection};
//!
//! let mut doubles = vec![3.14, -1.25, 0.5, f64::NAN, -99.9];
//! let sorter = RadixSort::<f64>::new(RadixDataType::Float, SortDirection::Ascending);
//! sorter.sort(&mut doubles);
//!
//! // NaN values are placed at the end
//! ```
//!
//! ### Sorting Strings
//!
//! ```rust
//! use universal_radix_sort::{RadixSort, RadixDataType, SortDirection};
//!
//! let mut fruits = vec!["banana".to_string(), "apple".to_string(), "cherry".to_string()];
//! let sorter = RadixSort::<String>::new(RadixDataType::String, SortDirection::Ascending);
//! sorter.sort(&mut fruits);
//!
//! assert_eq!(fruits, vec!["apple".to_string(), "banana".to_string(), "cherry".to_string()]);
//! ```
//!
//! ## Performance & Complexity
//!
//! | Metric | Complexity | Description |
//! | :--- | :--- | :--- |
//! | **Time** | O(n·k) | Where n is collection length and k is the number of passes (bytes) |
//! | **Space** | O(n) | Requires a temporary buffer of size n for stability |
//!
//! ### Comparison with Standard Sorts
//!
//! For large n, Radix Sort is generally faster than QuickSort (O(n log n)), provided that k
//! (the size of the data type in bytes) is not excessively large compared to log n.
//!
//! - **Integers/Floats**: Uses 64-bit (8 bytes) or 32-bit (4 bytes) passes
//! - **Strings**: Complexity depends on the length of the longest string in the dataset
//!
//! ## Technical Details
//!
//! - **Integers**: Uses an offset binary approach (flipping the sign bit) to correctly sort
//!   negative numbers before positives without branching comparisons
//! - **Floats**: Converts floating-point to integer bits. For negative floats, the bit order
//!   is inverted to preserve natural ordering when treated as integers (IEEE 754 compliant)
//! - **Strings**: Uses MSD (Most Significant Digit) first sorting strategy for lexicographical order
//!
//! ## Safety & Edge Cases
//!
//! - **NaN Handling**: NaN values are consistently placed at the end of sorted collections
//! - **Infinity**: Positive and negative infinity are handled correctly per IEEE 754
//! - **Empty Collections**: Returns immediately without allocation
//! - **Single Element**: Returns immediately (already sorted)
//!
//! ## License
//!
//! MIT License. See the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.

pub mod enums;
pub mod error;
pub mod radix;
pub mod traits;
pub mod utils;

pub use enums::{ProcessingOrder, RadixDataType, SortDirection};
pub use error::{RadixError, RadixResult};
pub use radix::RadixSort;
pub use traits::RadixSortable;

pub mod prelude {
    pub use crate::{
        ProcessingOrder, RadixDataType, RadixError, RadixResult, RadixSort, RadixSortable,
        SortDirection,
    };
}