Computing resource management with fast sorting using vector instructions

Abstract

Computing resource management is improved during fast sorting using vector instructions. The process includes: determining a pivot value and a pivot position in a data set (e.g., by sampling with vectors and determining the sample median), determining whether moving data in the sampled portion may be avoided (e.g., if it is constant-valued or already sorted) and, leveraging that determination to possibly avoid unnecessary data movement, sorting the data set. Some examples further determine the microarchitecture version of the computing device performing the sorting and select an implementation of sorting instruction that is tuned for that microarchitecture version (e.g., based on the number of vector registers and motherboard cache configuration). Some examples leverage a soft 3-way quicksort by finding data elements adjacent to the pivot position that also have the pivot value and adding a partition boundary at the end of the set of same-valued data elements.