Project $2-$Multithreaded Sorting Application

Write a multithreaded sorting program that works as follows: Alist of

integers is divided into two smaller lists of equal size. Two separate

threads $($which we will term sorting threads$)$ sort each sublist using a

sorting algorithm of your choice. The two sublists are then merged by a

third thread$-$a merging thread$-$which merges the two sublists into a

single sorted list.

Because global data are shared across all threads, perhaps the easiest

way to set up the data is to create a global array. Each sorting thread will

work on one half of this array. A second global array of the same size as

the unsorted integer array will also be established. The merging thread

will then merge the two sublists into this second array. Graphically, this

program is structured as in Figure $4\mathrm{.}27.$

Figure $4\mathrm{.}27$ Multithreaded sorting.

This programming project will require passing parameters to each of the

sorting threads. In particular, it will be necessary to identify the starting

index from which each thread is to begin sorting. Refer to the

instructions in Project $1$ for details on passing parameters to a thread.

The parent thread will output the sorted array once all sorting threads

have exited.

Change the above program to have $4$ sort threads and $3$ merge threads.