====== Quicksort (for 16-bit Elements) ====== by Vladimir Lidovski aka litwr, 13 Aug 2016 (with help of BigEd) It is well known that the best, the fastest sort routine is Quicksort. It is very odd that its implementations for 6502 for all of 42 years (from 1975 to 2016) have a bit blurred and unofficial status. The main problem is in the stack depending nature of Quicksort and the stack limit of 256 bytes of 6502 architecture. It is solvable. The next Pascal code was translated to 6502 assembler.


(* it sorts array of longint Basearray with the index range from 1 to Size *)
(* it should be invoked by QuickSort(1, Size) *)
(* Basearray elements and x local variable type maybe any numeric, string, set, ... type *)
Procedure QuickSort(LBound, UBound: word);
  var
    i, j: word;
    x: longint;
  begin
    i := LBound;
    j := UBound;
    x := BaseArray[(i + j) div 2];
    repeat
      while BaseArray[i] > x do inc(i);
      while x > BaseArray[j] do dec(j);
      if i <= j then begin
        Exchange(i, j);
        inc(i);
        dec(j)
      end
    until i > j;
    if LBound < j then QuickSort(LBound, j);
    if i < UBound then QuickSort(i, UBound)
  end;

TMPx assembler is used but it is very easy to convert it to any other 6502 assembler syntax.


i2lo = zp0lo
i2hi = zp0hi
j2lo = zp2lo
j2hi = zp2hi
x_lo = m2lo
x_hi = m2hi

quicksort tsx
          cpx #16  ;stack limit
          bcs qsok

qs_csp    ldx #0
          dex
          dex
          txs
qsok      lda $103,x
          sta i2lo
          lda $104,x
          sta i2hi
          ldy $106,x
          sty j2hi
          lda $105,x
          sta j2lo
          clc        ;this code works only for the even align
          adc i2lo
          and #$fc
          sta zp1lo
          tya
          adc i2hi
          ror
          sta zp1hi
          ror zp1lo

          ldy #0
          lda (zp1lo),y
          sta x_lo
          iny
          lda (zp1lo),y
          sta x_hi
qsloop1   ldy #0         ;compare array[i] and x
          lda (i2lo),y
          cmp x_lo
          iny
          lda (i2lo),y
          sbc x_hi
          bcs qs_l1

          lda #2
          adc i2lo
          sta i2lo
          bcc qsloop1

          inc i2hi
          bne qsloop1 ;=jmp

qs_l1     ldy #0       ;compare array[j] and x
          lda x_lo
          cmp (j2lo),y
          iny
          lda x_hi
          sbc (j2lo),y
          bcs qs_l3

          lda j2lo
          sbc #1
          sta j2lo
          bcs qs_l1

          dec j2hi
          bne qs_l1 ;=jmp

qs_l3     lda j2lo        ;compare i and j
          cmp i2lo
          lda j2hi
          sbc i2hi
          bcc qs_l8

qs_l6     lda (j2lo),y    ;exchange elements with i and j indices
          tax
          lda (i2lo),y
          sta (j2lo),y
          txa
          sta (i2lo),y
          dey
          bpl qs_l6

          ;clc
          lda #1        ;CY=1
          adc i2lo
          sta i2lo
          bcc *+4
          inc i2hi
          sec
          lda j2lo
          sbc #2
          sta j2lo
          bcs *+4
          dec j2hi
          ;lda j2lo
          cmp i2lo
          lda j2hi
          sbc i2hi
          ;bcc *+5
          ;jmp qsloop1
          bcs qsloop1

qs_l8     tsx
          lda $103,x
          cmp j2lo
          lda $104,x
          sbc j2hi
          bcs qs_l5

          lda i2hi
          pha
          lda i2lo
          pha
          lda j2hi
          pha
          lda j2lo
          pha
          lda $104,x
          pha
          lda $103,x
          pha
          jsr quicksort
          pla
          pla
          pla
          pla
          pla
          sta i2lo
          pla
          sta i2hi
          tsx
qs_l5     lda i2lo
          cmp $105,x
          lda i2hi
          sbc $106,x
          bcs qs_l7

          lda $106,x
          pha
          lda $105,x
          pha
          lda i2hi
          pha
          lda i2lo
          pha
          jsr quicksort
          pla
          pla
          pla
          pla
qs_l7     rts

//zp0lo//, //zp0hi//, //zp1lo//, //zp1hi//, //zp2lo//, //zp2hi// are zero page bytes. Low byte should precede high. //m2lo// and //m2hi// are bytes which maybe situated anywhere in RAM but it is better for speed to put them at zero page too. The invocation should be in the next form.


          lda #>array+size2-2
          pha
          lda #array
          pha
          lda #
//array// is the address of the array and //size2// is its size in bytes.  So //size2// is twice bigger then the number of 2 bytes integer in the array for the sort. //array// maybe any even address above $200.

The main trick is the work with the stack.  The routine reserves 16 stack bytes for interrupts.  It is possible to reduce this number to 0 if all interrupts are disabled.  It maybe made dynamically.  So if the stack has only 16 bytes free then the interrupts should be disabled and if there is more than 16 free bytes than the interrupts should be enabled.  This dynamic control will consume only about 10 more bytes in the code but its effect is small.  Some systems use NMI interrupts and this makes such dynamic control more complex.  The systems with NMI may require more than 16 free bytes in the stack.  IMHO 30 bytes will be enough for any system.

Several time measurements  (in seconds) were made for the Quicksort and the [[Shell Sort (16-bit elements)|Fredrik Ramsberg's Shell and Insertion sorts]]. Commodore +4 is used.  Its CPU works at 1.14 MHz average frequency.
^1024 Integers^Sort Type ^Random ^Ordered ^Reversed ^Zeros ^
| |Insertion |21.4 |0.14 |39.75 |0.16 |
| |Shell     |1.75 |0.8  |1.12  |0.82 |
| |Quick     |0.75 |0.4  |0.47  |0.94  |

^4096 Integers^Sort Type ^Random ^Ordered ^Reversed ^Zeros ^
| |Insertion |317.98 |0.6  |635.13 |0.58 |
| |Shell     |8.12   |4.02 |5.25   |4    |
| |Quick     |3.67   |1.88 |2.04   |4.21 |

^12288 Integers^Sort Type ^Random ^Ordered ^Reversed ^Zeros ^
| |Insertion |2877.48|1.78 |5714.08|1.75 |
| |Shell     |30.18  |13.82|18.05  |13.81|
| |Quick     |11.74  |6.83 |7.33   |13.07|
//Random//, //Ordered//, //Reversed//, //Zeros// mean the type of array filling.  Random filling just copies ROM content into array.  Ordered filling uses numbers from 0 with step 1.  Reversed filling uses numbers from $ffff with step -1.  Zeros filling is just an array filled with the zeros only.

So Quicksort is more than two times faster than Shell Sort.  Its code occupies together with its call wrapping 259 bytes.  It also uses 6 bytes of zero page and 2 bytes of any RAM.  The Shell sort requires about 250 bytes for the code and data and it doesn't use stack.  It also uses up to 14 bytes at zero page.  All these 14 bytes were used in the mentioned above measurements.

This version of Quicksort requires almost all stack (about 240 bytes) to sort fast more than 32 KB of data.  The required minimum is about 176 bytes but the stack with the only such minimum may slow down sorting dramatically.  If the stack has less free bytes than this minimum then this may give the meditation, the endless loop.

It is possible to reduce the stack load by tail call elimination.  It makes Quicksort slightly faster (only by 3-4%) but reduces the stack load more than 50%.  So 128 free bytes in the stack will make the sort of 60 KB data without delays.


i2lo = zp0lo
i2hi = zp0hi
j2lo = zp2lo
j2hi = zp2hi
x_lo = m2lo
x_hi = m2hi
ublo = m3lo
ubhi = m3hi
lblo = m4lo
lbhi = m4hi

quicksort0
          tsx
          cpx #16  ;stack limit
          bcs qsok

qs_csp    ldx #0
          txs

quicksort lda #>array+size2-2
          sta ubhi
          lda #array
          sta lbhi
          lda #

The locations //m3hi//, //m3lo//, //m4hi//, //m4lo// maybe situated anywhere in RAM.  The invocation just a call to quicksort routine.  However it is required to put the proper constants after //quicksort// label.  This makes the invocation code more complex in the general case.

The other published 6502 Quicksort is at [[http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?4687-QuickSort-in-6502-assembler|Vintage Computer Federation]]. More information can be found on page [[https://github.com/litwr2/6502-sorting|6502 sorting]]