How do I display numbers back from least to greatest?

[Senseless]

I am in a programming class, and am one of the best students in it, I even went to a state programming contest. One of the problems was to enter 6 race times in a Console Application and have it display the times back in order of which were fastest and their place
such as

imput
11
15
12
8
22
18

output
8 1st
11 2nd
12 3rd
15 4th
18 5th
22 6th

I really dont have any idea where to start. So far I have this done

Dim a1 As String
Dim a2 As String
Dim a3 As String
Dim a4 As String
Dim a5 As String
Dim a6 As String


Console.WriteLine("Enter Race Times")
a1 = Console.ReadLine
a2 = Console.ReadLine
a3 = Console.ReadLine
a4 = Console.ReadLine
a5 = Console.ReadLine
a6 = Console.ReadLine

any suggestions I really need to figure this out.

[jcis]

This is VB6 or VB.NET? what's that Console Object?

[Senseless]

In school I'm using Vb.net. On my comp now im using vb6. Im using a console application instead of a windows application to make this. Heres the problem:

Create a Console Application that inputs a list of times for a given track event.
“Enter Times” …..
Your application should put the times in order from fastest to slowest assigning a place 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th.
Sample Output:
9.7 1st
10.2 2nd
10.6 3rd
10.7 4th
11.3 5th
11.4 6th

[jcis]

There are many easy ways to do it, but being the best in your class i'll give you a more "advanced" answer: What you need is a sorting algorithm, and there are many, each one performs better for particular situations. There are many threads about sorting, this one in the codebank by Ellis Dee is very detailed with useful information about most used sorting algorithms: LINK HERE

[Senseless]

Ok I see what that is doing. One thing however. In my class we are having a mini competition. My teacher wants us to be able to code this with the least amount of code and use no references while in class. So what would be suggested as the easiest and simplest way to do from memory. As I said the sorting algorithm makes sense, but at the same time he wants this as simplistic as possible

[MartinLiss]

Do you think it would be fair for us to help you win the contest?

[Ellis Dee]

Insertion sort is the shortest algorithm from the perspective of lines of code. It's also probably the most efficient for short lists, but then again with only 6 items all algorithms will be super efficient.

If you're thinking you don't want to use a sorting algorithm, you're getting lost in semantics. The very act of putting numbers in order is sorting, and if it's done via code, it's a sorting algorithm. So no matter what you're going to be using one. Whether you make one up from scratch, or cobble together something specifically to handle exactly 6 items, it's still a sorting algorithm.

And pretty much no matter what you come up with, insertion sort will end up being fewer lines of code to accomplish the same task.

[lok1234]

Just create an array to store the six numbers. then pass the array to the following bubblesort (a slow sorting method)

Public Sub BubbleSort(ByRef arr As Variant, Optional numEls As Variant, Optional descending As Boolean)
    Dim value As Variant
    Dim Index As Long
    Dim firstItem As Long
    Dim indexLimit As Long, lastSwap As Long
    ' account for optional arguments
    If IsMissing(numEls) Then numEls = UBound(arr)
    firstItem = LBound(arr)
    lastSwap = numEls
    Do
        indexLimit = lastSwap - 1
        lastSwap = 0
        For Index = firstItem To indexLimit
            value = arr(Index)
            If (value > arr(Index + 1)) Xor descending Then
                ' if the items are not in order, swap them
                arr(Index) = arr(Index + 1)
                arr(Index + 1) = value
                lastSwap = Index
            End If
        Next
    Loop While lastSwap
End Sub

[Ellis Dee]

            If (value > arr(Index + 1)) Xor descending Then

Very cool.