Programming get the biggest number?

Question

Are the an even faster way of getting the biggest number instead of the old fashion way.

Function Max(a, b)

if a>b Then Return a Endif

Return b

EndFunction

Code can be written in any langauge.

By the way, what I mean are thy anything like this ...

Max = a / b * 10

Some caculation?

Answer 1

the shell sort is the fastest technique for small sets of data.  For larger (multiple thousands) the quick sort is the fastest, but is more complex and harder to implement.

A simple shell sort in C++ from wikipedia:

void shell_sort(int A[], int size) {

  int i, j, increment, temp;

  increment = size / 2;



  while (increment > 0) {

    for (i = increment; i < size; i++) {

      j = i;

      temp = A[i];

      while ((j >= increment) && (A[j-increment] > temp)) {

        A[j] = A[j - increment];

        j = j - increment;

      }

      A[j] = temp;

    }



    if (increment == 2)

       increment = 1;

    else

       increment = (int) (increment / 2.2);

  }

}