The Sortnet Program

Abstract

The Sortnet program is a useful tool for analyzing and/or synthesizing an N-key sorting network where N < 32. Sortnet commands can be used to: enter the Comparator List (CL); create the set of 0/1-cases that corresponds to the CL list; count these cases; display the corresponding poset of the keys; display the poset of the keys after selecting particular cases; change the comparators in the CL to relabel the keys in the poset; and display the corresponding Shmoo chart considering all or a selected set of the 0/1-cases. A user can customize his/her own copy of Sortnet by creating a text file, EQUIV.LST, and defining a set of equivalent mnemonics that he/she can easily enter. This helps users use their own mnemonics for their own convenience. Sortnet maintains the 0/1-cases for each segment in a separate linked-list. Thus, it does not start with 2^N cases when its sorts a set of N keys. Instead, Sortnet begins with N linked-lists where each list has only two cases (i.e. 2^N 0/1-cases instead of 2^N 0/1-cases).