Introduction
Here's a question that sounds like it should have a simple answer.
We have a list of one million numbers, and we want them in order. Sorting is one of the most studied problems in computer science. Researchers have spent decades on it. We have entire textbooks dedicated to it.
So why don't we just have one sorting algorithm? The best one. Use it everywhere. Done.
The fact that we don't is genuinely interesting. Not because computer scientists couldn't agree, but because "the best sorting algorithm" turns out to be a question that can't be answered without first asking several others.
