Home Depot Coding Question: Reorder Merge Sort Pseudocode

You are given a short description of a routine that performs a Merge Sort on an array and a set of jumbled pseudocode lines. Your tasks are to reconstruct the correct execution order of those lines, translate the ordered lines into a working program in a real language, and explain the behavior and design choices to the interviewer.

Start by reading each pseudocode line closely and identifying control-flow cues (base cases, recursive calls, array slicing, and merge steps). The high-level flow you should reconstruct is: identify the base case for recursion; split the array into two halves; recursively sort each half; merge the two sorted halves back into one array. That divide-and-conquer structure is the key signal.

When you translate the ordered pseudocode into code, preserve each line's intent (do not split or fuse lines). Choose a single language (e.g., Python) and add only minimal boilerplate (function signatures, imports, I/O) so the submission compiles/runs. Be prepared to discuss correctness, stability, and time/space complexity (typical Merge Sort: O(n log n) time, O(n) extra space for array-based merge).

Skill signals the interviewer is looking for: reading and reassembling control flow, implementing recursion correctly, handling array indices and edge cases (empty or single-element arrays), and reasoning about algorithmic complexity and trade-offs (in-place vs. extra memory, iterative variants, stability). Your explanation should justify choices, note any assumptions about inputs or types, and mention potential follow-ups like adapting merge to linked lists or optimizing memory.