Selection Sort

Selection Sort is another comparison-based algorithm that sorts an array by repeatedly finding the minimum element from the unsorted part and moving it to its correct position. It minimizes the number of swaps needed compared to Bubble Sort, which makes it useful when the cost of moving items is high, but finding the smallest item is easy.

Things to Observe

• Finding the Minimum: In each pass, watch how the algorithm scans the entire unsorted portion of the array to find the single smallest element.
• One Swap Per Pass: Notice that there is only one swap at the very end of each pass. This is a key difference from Bubble Sort and is the reason why Selection Sort is preferred when write operations are expensive.

Pseudocode

for i = 0 to (n - 1):

    min = i

    for j = i + 1 to (n - 1):

        if arr[j] < arr[min]:

            min = j

    if min != i: swap(i, min)