Sorting in huge files

[sjmachin at lexicon.net]

FWIW, the algorithms in early editions [haven't looked at recent ones]
are designed for magnetic tapes, not disk. They do still work on disk
(treat each tape drive as a file on disc). I had to implement a robust
production-quality sort on MS-DOS about 20 years ago, and did it
straight out of Knuth's book. It worked robustly, and was fast enough.
However there probably were then, and are sure to be now, algorithms
specifically designed for disk that work faster. Whether they are
documented and analysed as thoroughly as in Knuth's book is another
question.