# program to test a function that computes the
#   median of a given array
#

# median - a function
# Parameter:
#  A reference to an array of numbers
# Return value:
#  The median of the array, where median is the
#  middle element of the sorted array, if the
#  length is odd; if the length is even, the median
#  is the average of the two middle elements of the
#  sorted array.
sub median {
  my $ref_list = $_[0];

  #>>> Compute the length of the passed array
    my $len = $#$ref_list + 1;

  #>>> Sort the parameter array
  @list = sort {$a <=> $b} @$ref_list;

  #>>> Compute the median
  if ($len %2 == 1) { # length is odd
    return $list[$len / 2];
  }
  else { # length is even
    return ($list [$len / 2] + $list[$len / 2 - 1]) / 2;
  } #>>> End of function median
}
#>>> Begin main program
#>>> Create two test arrays, one with odd length and
#>>> one with even length
@list1 = (11, 26, 5, 29, 41, 6, 8, 0, 9);
@list2 = (43, 77, 11, 29, 8, 51, 9, 18);

#>>> Call median on both arrays and display the
#    results
$med = median(\@list1);
print "The median of the first array is $med \n";
$med = median(\@list2);
print "The median of the second array is $med \n";