On optimal and efficient in place merging

We introduce a new stable in place merging algorithm that needs O(m, log(n/m + 1)) comparisons and O(m + n) assignments. According to the lower bounds for merging our algorithm is asymptotically optimal regarding the number of comparisons as well as assignments. The stable algorithm is developed in a modular style out of an unstable kernel for which we give a definition in pseudocode. The literature so far describes several similar algorithms but merely as sophisticated theoretical models without any reasoning about their practical value. We report specific benchmarks and show that our algorithm is for almost all input sequences faster than the efficient minimum storage algorithm by Dudzinski and Dydek. The proposed algorithm can be effectively used in practice.