[goin-god]

So I have a number, I have to make a function that gets this number and returns a new number in wich it's digits are sorted from highest to lowest (and second version doing lowest to highest).
I'm having a hard time thinking about how to do it.

For example 52513 would return 55321.

I've already wrote something, but imo it's to ugly and long. (And dosn't work, stopped working on it)
Could anyone help me? (It's for JAVA)

[Andrew]

You're after a simple sorting algorithm, http://www.sorting-algorithms.com/ has 8 of the more common ones it also lists the peusdocode which should help you.

[goin-god]

I still havn't learn how to use arrays. The site looks awesome, but it's confusing me even more.

[Swoorup]

Here's the VB6 code. Hope you can translate this to >> java man

BTW I used the insertion sort method cause its easier and faster when working with large numbers!

VB6 functions:

Mid(string, <starting pos> , <number of characters>
Used to store string from the middle of a string

Val(string)
Used to convert a string to number

Dim <variable> AS <data type>
Declare a variable as data type

Swap a(i),a(j)
Interchange the position of values

len
Count the number of characters in a string

CODE

Dim a{len(string)} as Integer 'Take individual numbers to array For i= 1 to len(string)  a(i)= mid{string,i,1} next i 'A number Checks numbers before it and it is swapped if it bigger than the other 'So basically to check numbers before we have to start from 2nd value for i = 2 to len (string)  For j= 1 to i - 1    If val{a(i)} < val{a(j)} then       For k = j to i-1          swap a(i), a(j)       next k       Exit for    End if  Next j Next i 'Combine the array into the string for I= 1 to len(strin)  string= string+a(i) next i

EDIT: OOPs I am sorry, use asc instead of Val, asc turns the character into ascii code

This post has been edited by Swoorup on Sunday, Sep 11 2011, 05:44

[Andrew]

If you post what you've got so far, we can help you improve your code and point you in the right direction.

Whilst this isn't Java it is C#, but the syntax of the two languages are practically the same.

First is to convert a number string into an array of ints

CODE

//get length of input int strLen = input.Length; int[] numbers = new int[strLen]; //define array of input length //loop through the input array //converting chars to ints //place into numbers array for (int i = 0; i < strLen; i++)     {           numbers[i] = int.Parse(input[i].ToString());      }

The insertion sort method is like so.
(taken from here: http://www.publicjoe.f9.co.uk/csharp/sort03.html)

CODE

//takes numbers array and array size public static int[] sort(int[] array, int arrayLen)        {            int i;            int j;            int index;            for (i = 1; i < arrayLen; i++)            {                index = array[i];                j = i;                while ((j > 0) && (array[j - 1] < index)) //swap < for > to reverse                {                    array[j] = array[j - 1];                    j = j - 1;                }                array[j] = index;            }            return array;        }