CS50 pset 3: Tideman sort_pairs function - quicksort

Question

I need some assistance in understanding the logic behind this function. This is my current sort_pairs function in Tideman:
// Sort pairs in decreasing order by the strength of victory
void sort_pairs(void)
{
qsort(pairs, pair_count, sizeof(pair), compare);
return;
}
// Function for sort_pairs
int compare(const void *a, const void *b)
{
const pair *p1 = (const pair *) a;
const pair *p2 = (const pair *) b;
if (p1->winner < p2->winner)
{
return -1;
}
else if (p1->winner > p2->winner)
{
return 1;
}
else
{
return 0;
}
}
This does not clear check50 and I looked online to find how to approach this problem. It seems that most functions compare the values from the preferences array instead (eg preferences[pairs[i].winner][pairs[i].loser]) . My previous functions vote, record_preferences, and add_pairs all clear check50. I have not advanced beyond sort_pairs yet.
Why can't I compare the strength of victory directly from the pairs array instead since I already have the data stored there?

Answer 1

You don't need to make this so complex, you can use your own sorting here. Let's try a simple insertion sort-
void sort_pairs()
{
pair temp;
for (int i = 1, j; i < pair_count; i++)
{
temp = pairs[i];
j = i - 1;
for (; j >= 0 && preferences[pairs[j].winner][pairs[j].loser] < preferences[temp.winner][temp.loser]; j--)
{
pairs[j + 1] = pairs[j];
}
pairs[j + 1] = temp;
}
}
The pair struct looks like-
typedef struct
{
int winner;
int loser;
}
pair;
Explanation:-
We go through each pair of elements inside the pairs array - starting at 1 since I'm going to compare with the previous element (j = i - 1)
Now we check all the previous elements from the current element and compare them with the key - preferences[pairs[INDEX].winner][pairs[INDEX].loser]
This is the key you should be sorting by. preferences[WINNER_ID][LOSER_ID] means the amount of people that prefer WINNER_ID over LOSER_ID.
And that's pretty much it!, it's simply a insertion sort but the key is the important part.