Radix Sort Algorithm in DSA Go - Build from Scratch

Radix Sort Algorithm

📖 Scenario: You work in a warehouse where packages are labeled with numbers. You want to sort these package numbers quickly to organize shipments.

🎯 Goal: Build a program that sorts a list of package numbers using the Radix Sort algorithm.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of integers representing package numbers

Create a variable to track the maximum number of digits

Implement the Radix Sort logic using counting sort by digit

Print the sorted list of package numbers

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Sorting package numbers quickly helps warehouses organize shipments efficiently.

💼 Career

Understanding Radix Sort is useful for software engineers working on performance-critical sorting tasks.

1

Create the list of package numbers

Create a list called packages with these exact integers: 170, 45, 75, 90, 802, 24, 2, 66

DSA Go

# Create the list called packages with the given numbers
# Your code here

Hint

Use packages := []int{170, 45, 75, 90, 802, 24, 2, 66} to create the list.

2

Find the maximum number in the list

Create a variable called maxNum and set it to the maximum value in the packages list using a simple loop

DSA Go

packages := []int{170, 45, 75, 90, 802, 24, 2, 66}
// Find the maximum number in packages and assign it to maxNum
// Your code here

Hint

Start with maxNum := packages[0] and update it inside a for loop.

3

Implement Radix Sort logic

Write a loop that sorts packages by each digit place using counting sort logic. Use a variable exp starting at 1 and multiply by 10 each iteration until exp is greater than maxNum. Inside the loop, create a count array of size 10, count digits, and reorder packages accordingly.

DSA Go

packages := []int{170, 45, 75, 90, 802, 24, 2, 66}
maxNum := packages[0]
for _, num := range packages {
    if num > maxNum {
        maxNum = num
    }
}
// Implement radix sort using exp starting at 1
// Your code here

Hint

Use a loop with exp starting at 1 and multiply by 10 each time. Use counting sort steps inside.

4

Print the sorted list

Write a print statement to display the sorted packages list

DSA Go

packages := []int{170, 45, 75, 90, 802, 24, 2, 66}
maxNum := packages[0]
for _, num := range packages {
    if num > maxNum {
        maxNum = num
    }
}

exp := 1
n := len(packages)
for exp = 0; i-- {
        index := (packages[i] / exp) % 10
        output[count[index]-1] = packages[i]
        count[index]--
    }

    for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
        packages[i] = output[i]
    }

    exp *= 10
}
// Print the sorted packages list
// Your code here

Hint

Use fmt.Println(packages) to print the sorted list.