unsort

An unreliable and overall unusable sorting library for numbers with a global cache on the edge.

the algorithm

This library implements a number sorting algorithm which is based on time.

Let's say we have an array with three numbers: 200, 100 and 300.

const unsorted = [200, 100, 300]

First, a new, empty array is created.

const sorted = []

Second, the array with the unsorted numbers gets iterated over and a new timeout is created with the number of the current number as its timeout value.

for (const value of unsorted) {
  setTimeout(() => {
    sorted.push(value)
  }, value)
}

The lowest number gets put into the sorted array first, after that the second-lowest number and so on and on till the sorted array is filled with all numbers in the correct order.

global cache on the edge

If the option useGlobalEdgeCache is set to true (which is default), a global cache on the edge will be used to increase the performance of this algorithm.

After the unsort method is called, a request will be made to a supabase edge function which then checks its database, if the unsorted array is already sorted in the database. If this is the case, the sorted value from the database will be returned instead of sorting the whole array again.

If the array couldn't be found in the database, it will be sorted in the edge function and saved to the cache database to be available for future sorting requests.

If, for whatever reason, the request to the global cache on the edge fails, the array will be sorted locally, without saving it anywhere to a cache.

performance

The performance depends mostly on the highest number of the array which will be sorted. If you want to sort the following array: [1, 2, 3000] the sorting will take approximately 3000ms, except it was found in the global cache on the edge. Then it would take approximately 500ms.

drawbacks

Because of the spec of setTimeout, values beneath 4 will, at least sometimes, not be correctly sorted. Node.js 18 will do its best to handle these cases, but it will fail sometimes.

requirements

This library requires Node.js Version >= 18.0.0

usage

Don't. But if you really want, here you go.

basic

1. Install it with pnpm: pnpm i unsort
2. Import it import { unsort } from 'unsort'
3. Profit.

const sorted = await unsort([300, 100, 200]) // results in [100, 200, 300] - hopefully

options

set global options

import { updateGlobalUnsortConfiguration } from 'unsort'

updateGlobalUnsortConfiguration({
  useGlobalEdgeCache: false
})

set options for single call

const sorted = await unsort([300, 100, 200], {
  useGlobalEdgeCache: false
})