While Bitonic Sort is initially defined for sequences with a size that is a power of two, it can be adapted to work with sequences of non-power-of-two sizes. However, this adaptation may involve additional steps and considerations.
The standard Bitonic Sort process involves creating bitonic sequences by recursively sorting the first and second halves of the sequence in opposite orders. When the size of the sequence is a power of two, this recursive subdivision works seamlessly. For non-power-of-two-sized arrays, the recursive subdivision may not perfectly divide the array into equal halves.
To handle non-power-of-two-sized arrays, one approach is to pad the array with dummy elements to make its size a power of two. These dummy elements can be chosen such that they do not affect the sorting outcome but allow the recursive subdivision to proceed without complications. After sorting, the dummy elements can be removed.
Alternatively, a modified version of the Bitonic Sort algorithm can be designed to handle arrays of arbitrary sizes directly. This modification might involve adjusting the recursive subdivision strategy or employing specific handling for the remaining elements that do not fit into the power-of-two structure.
In summary, while Bitonic Sort is conceptually designed for power-of-two-sized arrays, it can be adapted to handle arrays of non-power-of-two sizes with some adjustments or additional considerations. The specific adaptation may depend on the requirements of the application and the desired behavior for sorting non-power-of-two-sized arrays.
