Abstract: A method is described for operating a data processing system having a plurality of processors to sort a set of data records each having an associated key for governing the sort process. The method comprises determining a range for the key values by sampling the key values. The range is divided into a plurality of quantiles, one for each processor, each quantile having a respective index. At each processor, a plurality of buckets are defined, each bucket corresponding to a respective one of a plurality M.sub.p of subintervals in the quantile, each subinterval having a respective index. The index of the quantile in which the key value lies and the index of the subinterval in which the key value lies are determined directly from the key values using fast operations. Each key is distributed to the processor corresponding to the quantile in which the key value lies.

Abstract: A computer system such as a mobile client system in which provision is made for management of flash memory. Flash memory management is done using variable block length and supports data compression. Blocks are allocated contiguously in each erase unit and each block starts with a header that contains the length of the block. Blocks are tracked using a single-level virtual address map which resides in random access memory (RAM). The mobile computer system may also include a housing, processor, random access memory, display and an input digitizer such as a touchscreen.