N.A.N.Y. 2013 Pledge & Release: 2x2 List Sorter

[kyrathaba]

If you've ever seen a woman try on a dozen different dresses in a store, and then say, "I like this one better than that one, but I really like this other one better....", you'll understand the need for the 2x2 List Sorter. Same thing if you've ever presented a kid with 31 different ice-cream flavor choices at a Baskin Robins. It can be hard to get all your preferences sorted out, when you have to look at all the options at the same time. Along comes the 2x2 List Sorter to the rescue. Just feed it a text file of related choices (dress colors, fruit types, ice cream flavors), and the program will then help you step-by-step to figure out your most to least favorite.

Offers option to export the finished sort to text file.

The minimum number of button clicks required to achieve a sorted list is n-1,
and the maximum possibly required clicks is (n_squared / 2) - (n / 2), where n
is the number of items in the list.

Screenshots:







Download link:

http://kyrathaba.dcmembers.com/ccount/click.php?id=15


Installation: download and run the program.

Requirements: .NET Framework 4.0

[mouser]

great idea 

[Jibz]

I wonder if randomizing the order of choices would be more confusing or not to the user. It seems like it could maybe improve the expected runtime -- but I am on my first cup of coffee, so I may be wrong .

Nice idea .

[Jibz]

Actually, I guess the user is the comparison function, so you could implement most sorting algorithms based on comparison I guess. 2x2 List Quicksort^w anyone?

[awopbamboo]

Excellent idea!

I just rated my previous girlfriends, worryingly, my wife came 4th!

[TaoPhoenix]

Excellent idea!

I just rated my previous girlfriends, worryingly, my wife came 4th!

Does she read your internet posts?   

[TaoPhoenix]

Kyrathaba, you're onto something, but a couple of features might make it even more useful. What if you had a "hate" option? Most people only really pick from the top half of their list right? So what if there was an "Accelerated Mode" where you click any number of items "that belong in the lower half of your list" (you can rescue one later.)

So on a 30 point list your program would be as exhausting as the real life version, but if you just click "I hate coffee, licorice, tomatoes, ratatouille, green & yellow peppers, onions, lima beans, escargot, pickled mangoes, anchovies, and blueberries", then you save a zillion comparisons.

Then you can decide if you like chicken more than steak, coke vs pepsi, tacos vs enchiladas, etc.

[awopbamboo]

Does she read your internet posts?   

Hopefully!

[Shiyin]

I've found it useful for sorting task lists, to select the most important tasks to do next. The problem is that for longer lists it takes a long time, but I only need the top items. If there was an option to choose to stop when the top 5 items are found, it would be faster and more useful for this purpose.

[Shiyin]

For task lists, (which I copy from another app), it would also save time to enable more than 30 characters, or to automatically trim the end off of items > 30 chars.

Thanks for a really handy app!

[kyrathaba]

Glad it's helpful, Shiyin