Radix Sort Float - c

Question

I am trying to sort floats with radix. My current algorithm works with unsigned. For example, if I enter values 12, 100, 1 my sorted values are 1, 12, and 100. However, when I use a function to convert floats to ints back to floats after calling the radix sort, my values remain unsorted. They print as they were entered by the user.
I am unsure how to modify my current function to be able to sort floats with radix.
void rs(unsigned int *a, int c) {
int i;
int m = a[0];
int bt = 0;
unsigned int *b = malloc(0 * sizeof(int));
for (i = 0; i < c; i++) {
if (a[i] > m)
m = a[i];
}
while((m>>bt) > 0){
int buck[2] = { 0 };
for (i = 0; i < c; i++) {
buck[(a[i]>>bt)&1]++;
}
for (i = 1; i < 2; i++) {
buck[i] += buck[i-1];
}
for (i = c-1; i >= 0; i--) {
b[--buck[(a[i]>>bt)&1]] = a[i];
}
for (i = 0; i < c; i++) {
a[i] = b[i];
}
bt++;
}
free(b);
}
The function I am using to transform floats to ints to floats is: Radix Sort for Floats
void rfloat(float* arr, size_t size) {
assert(sizeof(unsigned) == sizeof(float) && sizeof(float) == 4);
unsigned* d = malloc(size * sizeof(unsigned));
for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
// Interpret float as 32-bit unsigned.
d[i] = *(unsigned*) &(arr[i]);
// Flip all except top if top bit is set.
d[i] ^= (((unsigned) (((int) d[i]) >> 31)) >> 1);
// Flip top bit.
d[i] ^= (1u << 31);
}
rs(d, size);
// Inverse transform.
for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
d[i] ^= (1u << 31);
d[i] ^= (((unsigned) (((int) d[i]) >> 31)) >> 1);
arr[i] = *(float*) &(d[i]);
}
free(d);
}

Answer 1

There's multiple issues.
You use int all over the place where you should be using unsigned (for values) or size_t (for sizes/indices).
You allocate 0 bytes.
(m >> bt) > 0 doesn't work as a stop condition, shifting bits equal or greater than the width is not specified.
After transforming the data types to unsigned the loop boundaries don't work anymore.
I took the liberty of fixing the above and choosing some better variable names:
#include <limits.h>
void rs(unsigned int *a, size_t c) {
size_t i;
unsigned bit = 0;
unsigned *b = malloc(c * sizeof(unsigned));
unsigned m = a[0]; // Max element.
for (i = 0; i < c; i++) {
if (a[i] > m) m = a[i];
}
while (bit < CHAR_BIT*sizeof(m) && (m >> bit)) {
size_t bucket_len[2] = { 0, 0 };
for (i = 0; i < c; i++) bucket_len[(a[i] >> bit) & 1]++;
size_t bucket_end[2] = {bucket_len[0], bucket_len[0] + bucket_len[1]};
for (i = c; i-- > 0; ) {
size_t j = --bucket_end[(a[i] >> bit) & 1];
b[j] = a[i];
}
for (i = 0; i < c; i++) a[i] = b[i];
bit++;
}
free(b);
}