Assess students' ability to analyze and compare Quicksort, Mergesort, and Heapsort across input distributions (random, sorted, reverse-sorted, nearly-sorted, duplicate-heavy). Evaluate theoretical time/space complexities (best/average/worst), stability, in-place behavior, number of comparisons/swaps, cache and external-memory considerations, and practical performance trade-offs; require interpretation of empirical results and justified algorithm selection under given constraints (memory, stability, worst-case guarantees).