From 3a22602982a896c93df71ce67d2b9ae1ce741197 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Feralthedogg <153323053+Feralthedogg@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:58:01 +0900
Subject: [PATCH] perf: reuse scratch buffer in merge sort

---
 src/sorting/merge_sort.rs | 159 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 115 insertions(+), 44 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/sorting/merge_sort.rs b/src/sorting/merge_sort.rs
index 4c184c86110..dc922f2d362 100644
--- a/src/sorting/merge_sort.rs
+++ b/src/sorting/merge_sort.rs
@@ -1,62 +1,133 @@
-fn merge<T: Ord + Copy>(arr: &mut [T], mid: usize) {
-    // Create temporary vectors to support the merge.
-    let left_half = arr[..mid].to_vec();
-    let right_half = arr[mid..].to_vec();
-
-    // Indexes to track the positions while merging.
-    let mut l = 0;
-    let mut r = 0;
-
-    for v in arr {
-        // Choose either the smaller element, or from whichever vec is not exhausted.
-        if r == right_half.len() || (l < left_half.len() && left_half[l] < right_half[r]) {
-            *v = left_half[l];
-            l += 1;
+fn merge<T: Ord + Copy>(arr: &mut [T], mid: usize, scratch: &mut [T]) {
+    // The snapshot must survive writes to arr; reuse its storage across merges.
+    let snapshot = &mut scratch[..arr.len()];
+    snapshot.copy_from_slice(arr);
+    let (left_half, right_half) = snapshot.split_at(mid);
+    let mut left = 0;
+    let mut right = 0;
+
+    for value in arr {
+        // Preserve the original tie rule: equal elements come from the right.
+        if right == right_half.len()
+            || (left < left_half.len() && left_half[left] < right_half[right])
+        {
+            *value = left_half[left];
+            left += 1;
         } else {
-            *v = right_half[r];
-            r += 1;
+            *value = right_half[right];
+            right += 1;
         }
     }
 }
 
 pub fn top_down_merge_sort<T: Ord + Copy>(arr: &mut [T]) {
-    if arr.len() > 1 {
-        let mid = arr.len() / 2;
-        // Sort the left half recursively.
-        top_down_merge_sort(&mut arr[..mid]);
-        // Sort the right half recursively.
-        top_down_merge_sort(&mut arr[mid..]);
-        // Combine the two halves.
-        merge(arr, mid);
+    if arr.len() <= 1 {
+        return;
     }
+
+    let mut scratch = arr.to_vec();
+    sort_recursive(arr, &mut scratch);
 }
 
-pub fn bottom_up_merge_sort<T: Copy + Ord>(a: &mut [T]) {
-    if a.len() > 1 {
-        let len: usize = a.len();
-        let mut sub_array_size: usize = 1;
-        while sub_array_size < len {
-            let mut start_index: usize = 0;
-            // still have more than one sub-arrays to merge
-            while len - start_index > sub_array_size {
-                let end_idx: usize = if start_index + 2 * sub_array_size > len {
-                    len
-                } else {
-                    start_index + 2 * sub_array_size
-                };
-                // merge a[start_index..start_index+sub_array_size] and a[start_index+sub_array_size..end_idx]
-                // NOTE: mid is a relative index number starting from `start_index`
-                merge(&mut a[start_index..end_idx], sub_array_size);
-                // update `start_index` to merge the next sub-arrays
-                start_index = end_idx;
-            }
-            sub_array_size *= 2;
+fn sort_recursive<T: Ord + Copy>(arr: &mut [T], scratch: &mut [T]) {
+    if arr.len() <= 1 {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    let mid = arr.len() / 2;
+    let (left, right) = arr.split_at_mut(mid);
+    sort_recursive(left, scratch);
+    sort_recursive(right, scratch);
+    merge(arr, mid, scratch);
+}
+
+pub fn bottom_up_merge_sort<T: Copy + Ord>(arr: &mut [T]) {
+    if arr.len() <= 1 {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    let mut scratch = arr.to_vec();
+    let mut width = 1;
+    while width < arr.len() {
+        let mut start = 0;
+        while arr.len() - start > width {
+            let end = (start + 2 * width).min(arr.len());
+            merge(&mut arr[start..end], width, &mut scratch);
+            start = end;
         }
+        width *= 2;
     }
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
+    #[test]
+    fn exhaustive_small_inputs_match_standard_sort() {
+        for len in 0..=8 {
+            for mut encoded in 0..3_usize.pow(len) {
+                let input: Vec<i32> = (0..len)
+                    .map(|_| {
+                        let value = (encoded % 3) as i32 - 1;
+                        encoded /= 3;
+                        value
+                    })
+                    .collect();
+                let mut expected = input.clone();
+                expected.sort();
+
+                for sort in [
+                    super::top_down_merge_sort::<i32>,
+                    super::bottom_up_merge_sort::<i32>,
+                ] {
+                    let mut actual = input.clone();
+                    sort(&mut actual);
+                    assert_eq!(actual, expected);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn merge_boundaries_match_standard_sort() {
+        for len in [9, 15, 16, 17, 31, 32, 33, 255, 256, 257, 1023, 1024, 1025] {
+            let mut input: Vec<i32> = (0..len).map(|index| (index * 31 % 17) - 8).collect();
+            let mut expected = input.clone();
+            expected.sort();
+
+            for _ in 0..2 {
+                for sort in [
+                    super::top_down_merge_sort::<i32>,
+                    super::bottom_up_merge_sort::<i32>,
+                ] {
+                    let mut actual = input.clone();
+                    sort(&mut actual);
+                    assert_eq!(actual, expected);
+                }
+                input.reverse();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn equal_elements_keep_right_first_order() {
+        let input = [2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3];
+        // A stable sort of reversed references models the original right-first
+        // tie rule. Distinct addresses let us observe equal elements' order.
+        let mut expected: Vec<_> = input.iter().rev().collect();
+        expected.sort();
+
+        for sort in [
+            super::top_down_merge_sort::<&i32>,
+            super::bottom_up_merge_sort::<&i32>,
+        ] {
+            let mut actual: Vec<_> = input.iter().collect();
+            sort(&mut actual);
+            for (actual, expected) in actual.iter().zip(&expected) {
+                assert!(std::ptr::eq(*actual, *expected));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     #[cfg(test)]
     mod top_down_merge_sort {
         use super::super::*;