The main objective of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding file input and output, and to

implement an algorithm to merge two unsorted data

files into one sorted data file.

Objectives to be met

1

Demonstrate how to merge two sorted lists into one sorted output file.

2

Demonstrate how to implement the given algorithm to solve the merge problem.

Use the

start-

up source code file MergeSort.cpp provided to complete this assignment. Start by creating a new

empty project and the

n

copy the source code (.cpp) file and data .txt files into the project folder. Then right

-

click the Source node in Solution Explorer to Add Existing item into your projects solution. Be sure you can

compile, load and run the program to make sure that much works, which should print some messages to the

screen and create an output file that initially will be empty

you will be merging two sorted lists into one sorted

output file. Complete the TODO comments where indicated in the source code file

and as outlined in the

required merge algorithm

.

Given input files A and B read into two arrays and then sorted separately, the program

will use those two lists

and the algorithm that follows to write the merged output file AB (

Note: TestScoresMergeAB file should

contain just one column

):

TestScoresA

88

87

88

66

55

56

75

75

78

80

80

90

99

87

44

34

0

100

TestScoresB

80

91

55

67

75

90

80

100

35

98

0

66

99

87

75

34

15

90

88

100

44

83

TestScoresMergeAB

0

0

15

34

34

35

44

44

55

55

56

66

66

67

75

75

75

75

78

80

.

.

.

.

80

80

80

83

87

87

87

88

88

88

90

90

90

91

98

99

99

100

100

100

Requirements

1

Do not modify the input data files.

2

Do not define additional arrays in your program solution.

3

The two existing arrays, already sorted, must be merged externally into the required output file.

4

Use the algorithm that

follows as the basis of your solution.

5

After the merged output file is closed, reset the counters and write a loop to print both lists side

-

by

-

side to the standard output screen; it should similar to the first two columns on the first page

of these instructions.

Hint

: you will need a decision about how to use

setw()

to finish up.

This will not be an interactive program, but console output should include at least the following messages about

program activity:

Opening files....

Reading files....

Merging files....

Finishing up....

End program.

Use the algorithm shown here to implement your solution.

Merge list

-

A and list

-

B into output file

-

AB

// implement first part of merge

until (end

-

of

-

list

-

A) or (end

-

of

-

list

-

B)

if next

-

A <= next

-

B then

write next

-

A to file

-

AB

increment

list

-

A counter

else

write next

-

B to file

-

AB

increment list

-

B counter

// finish writing other list

if (end

-

of

-

list

-

A) then

until (end

-

of

-

list

-

B)

write next

-

B to file

-

AB

increment list

-

B counter

else

until (end

-

of

-

list

-

A)

write next

-

A to file

-

AB

increment list

-

A counter

close output file

-

AB

Considerations:

The algorithm uses different counters for each of the arrays. You need to maintain those two counters, one

for each list as indicated in the solution algorithm.

The list counters need to be compared to the lengths of their corresponding lists in order to determine when

the end of list A or the end of list B has been reached. Notice also that one of the lists will end before the

other in the first part, so when that loop ends, a follow up IF

-

ELSE with nested loops is used to determine

which array still needs to be added to the output file.

Additional Requirements:

Include your name at the top of the main program files as a comment.

Compress and submit that one

assignment project folder with all the source code, data files, and other project files.