Quicksort: pick a pivot, partition, recurse
This animation walks through the Lomuto partition method used in quicksort, choosing the last element as pivot and tracking two pointers, i and j, as they scan the array. Values smaller than the pivot are swapped into place on the left while j continues scanning, and the pivot finally swaps into its correct sorted position. The array then splits into left and right subarrays, each recursively partitioned the same way. Useful for students learning sorting algorithms and recursive divide-and-conquer strategies.
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The prompt that made it
Lomuto partition with the last value as pivot and two pointers i and j; the pivot lands in its final place with smaller values left and bigger right, then each side is sorted the same way.
Make the next one in this series
- Compare Lomuto partition to Hoare partition using the same input array side by side
- Show quicksort's worst-case behavior when the array is already sorted
- Visualize the recursion tree of quicksort calls showing depth and subarray sizes
