Sort array by difference from the given value - swift

Question

I am trying to sort an array of football players - "players". The array consists of players and a single player has the following structure:
var player1 = ["name" : "Joe Smith",
"height": "42.00",
"experience": "yes",
"guardian" : "Jim and Jan Smith"]
The sorting that I would like should be based on the difference in player's height from their average height. So, the average height is 42.4. The player whose height is very close to the average height should be the first one after sorting, and the player whose height is really different from the average should be the last one.
As I understand, it is supposed to follow the following logic:
for player in players {
temp value = averageHeight - player["height"]
}
and then you compare value to values that have been already sorted and insert it in the correct position, however, this is my problem. I have problems writing this algorithm. Looking for any thoughts or pseudocode that would help resolve this issue. Thank you.

Answer 1

I strongly recommend that you convert your data to structs. This would allow you to do these kinds of calculations easily and without having to deal with string conversions all the time.
struct Player {
let name: String
let height: Double
}
var players = [
Player(name: "Foo", height: 42),
Player(name: "Bar", height: 1),
Player(name: "Baz", height: 100)
]
let avgHeight = players.reduce(0.0) { $0 + $1.height } / Double(players.count)
print(avgHeight)
players.sort { player1, player2 in
return abs(player1.height - avgHeight) < abs(player2.height - avgHeight)
}
print(players)

Answer 2

I think you are missing an abs(). Because sorting by averageHeight - player["height"] does not differ from sorting by player["height"] backwards. But sorting by abs(averageHeight - player["height"]) would do what you describe.
Then you can go for sort(by:):
players.sort(by:{abs(averageHeight-$0.height)<abs(averageHeight-$1.height)})
At least that is what I think, but I do not know Swift (ok, I have one from Suzuki)