How does JavaScript's `sort()` function work with numerical arrays?

Understanding Javascript's sort() Function

The sort() method in JavaScript is used to arrange an array's elements in a specific order. To sort arrays in numerical order, a callback function is provided as an argument. This callback function compares each pair of elements and returns a value based on the comparison.

The callback function takes two parameters: "a" and "b," which represent the elements being compared. The following logic is used to determine the sorting order:

• If "a - b" is less than 0, "a" is sorted to a lower index than "b."
• If "a - b" is zero, "a" and "b" are considered equal and no sorting is performed.
• If "a - b" is greater than 0, "b" is sorted to a lower index than "a."

To illustrate this, consider the array [25, 8, 7, 41].

Execution of the sort() Method

The sort() method iteratively calls the callback function to compare pairs of elements. The following sequence of comparisons takes place:

• 25(a) - 8(b) = 17 (greater than zero, so sort "b" to a lower index than "a"): [8, 25]
• 8(a) - 7(b) = 1 (greater than zero, so sort "b" to a lower index than "a"): [8, 7, 25]
• 8(a) - 41(b) = -33 (less than zero, so sort "a" to a lower index than "b"): [8, 7, 41, 25]
• 7(a) - 25(b) = -18 (less than zero, so sort "a" to a lower index than "b"): [8, 7, 25, 41]

Merging the Sorted Sets

After each comparison, the sorted elements are merged. The final sorted array is [8, 7, 25, 41].

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