Why non-recursive sorting algorithms are not popular?

[Hareendra Reddy]

I have been revising algorithms for some days. Actually , i am not aware that iterative versions of the algorithms do exist but why they are not popular as their recursive counterparts.

Even the Arrays.sort method in java implements recursive quick sort.I heard that recursion causes overhead in maintaining the stack frames for each method call.

for e.g: Iterative version for merge sort is even simple. It first sort the adjacent elements and then the sorted pairs , so on.

I posted this question on StackOverflow too: but dint get a convincing answer.What are your views about this??

Thanks,
S.Hareendra

[Tim Moores]

Quick sort (one of the fastest sorting algorithm) is recursive; trying to implement it in iterative fashion will lead to hard-to-understand code.

I heard that recursion causes overhead in maintaining the stack frames for each method call.

Yes, there is an overhead, but there is an overhead in implementing an iterative version, too. Recursion by itself is not something to be afraid of.

[Hareendra Reddy]

Thank you Tim..
This, This andthis are useful too.

[fred rosenberger]

memory is pretty cheap these days. My father used to tell me about when they paid basically $1 PER BYTE of memory. Today, I can run into just about any store and buy a 4GB thumb drive for under $15 bucks. It's usually not something to worry about. even my cell phone has a 4GB chip in it.