I need help on a sorting array method()

Question

I'm working on a program that can do a calculation for a swimming event where there will be no more than 200 paticipants. The swimmers that signed up first for the race will be swimming in the last heat.They swim in a pool with 7 lines.The swimmer that signed up first ( and so has the lowest sign up time)swimms in line 4,the swimmer that signed up second ( and so has the second lowest sign up time)swimms in line 5, and the swimmer that signed up after that in line 3.
Which meens that the lines are filled as follow:
line 1 time 7
line 2 time 5
line 3 time 3
line 4 time 1
line 5 time 2
line 6 time 4
line 7 time 6
When the last heat is filled, the heat before the last one is filled after the same pattern and so on, so that the first heat is filled last.
Now, I have written a class that can sort the times from the lowest to the highest, but how do I write a method that can sort the swimmers into the heats and the right lines??
public class SwimmingEvent
private String name;
private int birthYear;
private int number;
private double signUpTime;
private Swimmer[] record;
private int numberOfSwimmers;
public SwimmingEvent()
name = "No record";
birthYear = "No record";
number = "No record";
signUpTime = 0;
public SwimmingEvent(String initialName, int initialBirthYear,
int initialNumber, double initialSignUpTime)
set(initialName, initialBirthYear, initialNumber, initialSignUpTime);
public void set(String newName, int newBirthYear, int newNumber, double newSignUpTime)
name = newName;
birthYear = newBirthYear;
number = newNumber;
signUpTime = newSignUpTime;
public void readInput()
System.out.print("Indtast sv�mmerns navn:");
name = SavitchIn.readLine();
System.out.print("Indtast �rgang:");
birthYear = Savitch.readLine();
System.out.print("Indtast l�bsnummer:");
number = SavitchIn.readLine();
System.out.print("Indtast tid for anmeldelse:");
signUpTime = SavitchIn.readLineDouble();
public void getFigures()
System.out.println("Indtast antalet af sv�mmer:");
numberOfSwimmers = Savitch.readLineInt();
record = new Swimmer[numberOfSwimmers];
int i;
for (i = 0; i < numberOfSwimmers; i++)
record[i] = new Swimmer();
System.out.println("Indtast data for sv�mmer: " + (i+1));
record.readInput();
System.out.println();
public static void sort(double[] a)
int index, indexOfNextSmallest;
for (index = 0; index < a.length - 1; index++);
indexOfSmallestNumber = indexOfSmallest(index, a);
interchange(index, indexOfNextSmallest, a);
private static void interchange(int i, int j, int[] a)
int temp = a[i];
temp = a[i];
a[i] = a[j] = temp;
private static int indexOfSmallest(int startIndex, int[] a)
int min = a[startIndex];
int indexOfMin = startIndex;
int index;
for (index = startIndex + 1; index < a.length; index++)
if (a[index] < min)
min = a[index];
indexOfMin = index;
return indexOfMin;
public void writeOutput()
public String getName()
return name;
public int getBirthYear()
return birthYear;
public int getNumber()
return number;
public double getSignUpTime()
return signUpTime;

Answer 1

Now, I have written a class that can sort the times from the lowest to
the highest, but how do I write a method that can sort the swimmers into
the heats and the right lines??Once you have a working general sort algorithm, issues like this come down to how you make your comparisons between elements. So what you want to do is write your sort code so that the comparison code is modular. (for example, using a class to express comparisons, so you can swap out comparison classes). Then whatever your requirements for sorting elements are, you can achieve them by writing the right comparison code and leaving your sort alone.
This is how Java's core libraries do it, by the way. See:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/api/java/util/Comparator.html
I'm assuming this is your homework. If it's not, then you shouldn't be writing your own sort routines -- use the ones java provides. See the API.