LEARN SORTING BY WATCHING FOLK DANCING

The next time you’re having trouble in computer science classes grasping the nature of shell sorts and bubble sorts, head over to the AlgoRythmics YouTube channel. There, a group of folk dancers are using Hungarian and Gypsy folk dance to teach people exactly how those sorting operations work, complete with graphic overlays and numbers on their chest and back to show you how the sort functions.

If you’re not familiar with sorting algorithms or their applications in computer programming, this won’t do much for you aside from be entertaining. Still, it also shows there’s a modern, practical use for folk dancing that doesn’t necessarily involve history or cultural heritage. Better yet, maybe it’s a good way to get a dose of culture with your computer science.

Right now the AlgoRythmics’ channel only features four videos at the moment. The first is a Hungarian folk dance called “Székely,” used to illustrate a Shell sort. The second is a traditional Gypsy folk dance used to showcase a select sort, the third is another Hungarian dance called the “Csángó,” used to illustrate Bubble sorts, and the fourth is a Romanian folk dance used to illustrate an insert sort.

The crew hasn’t stopped there though, they plan to upload a Transylvanian-Saxon folk dance that displays merge sorts, and another Hungarian folk dance (called the “Küküllőmenti legényes”) to illustrate quick sorts in just a few days. Their Facebook fan page is up to over 900 people. Their most popular video, the bubble sort, has well over 200,000 views at YouTube.

The whole affair is part of Sapientia University’s Intercultural Computer Science Education program. If you understand the sorting algorithms that are on display, you’ll really appreciate them. If you don’t understand them but need to learn, you’ll like them a lot. If you have no idea what’s going on, at least you’ll enjoy the dancing. You can checkout the AlgoRythmics Youtube channel here.