Sorting with Sound

via Geek.com – yes, I subscribe to stuff like this in my RSS reader …

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8g-iYGHpEA

I thought this was interesting on two levels …

• The Engineering student within appreciates the differences in sorting techniques (although I think I could speed up that bubble sort …)
• I also think these videos provide a simple illustration of the power of multi-media information sharing; the audio helps the animated “description” of the sorting techniques

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXAjiDQbPSw

I freely admit to be a bubble-sort bigot, as I never truly understood the heapsort algorithm. But think how this combination visualization / audio tool helps illustrate the concept; I’d love to see an interactive tool that lets me step through the sort and see the loops and the “stack” of values.

Another important power of effective visualizations – they get your audience thinking in new and different ways as well!