Real-Time Performance of Sorting Algorithms

In hard real-time systems tasks must meet their deadlines under guarantee. Soft real-time tasks may miss deadlines occasionally, as long as the entire system can provide the specified quality of service.In this paper we investigate the hard and soft real-time performance of sorting algorithms and compare it to their average performance. We show in which way the adequacy of an algorithm depends on the demanded performance criterium (hard, soft, or non real-time). The results provide a guideline to select the right sorting algorithm for a given application.