Sort an large array, keeping some elements in place (every language)

Question

Can everybody help me? I have a problem: Given an array of array elements (Unlimited number of array elements). Sort the elements in ascending order, but keep any elements with the value -1 in the original position.

example: a=[4, -1, 5, 1, 8, 3, 2, -1]

after sort: a=[1, -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, -1]

Answer 1

Here's how you might accomplish that in C#:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace NameSpace
{
    class Class
    {
        static int[] a = { 4, -1, 5, 1, 8, 3, 2, -1 };
        static List<int> Storage = new List<int>();
        static int indexToAdd = 0;
        static void Main()
        {
            foreach(int i in a)
            {
                if(i != -1)
                {
                    Storage.Add(i);
                }
            }
            Storage.Sort();

            for(int i = 0; i < Storage.Count; i++)
            {
                if(a[indexToAdd + i] == -1)
                {
                    indexToAdd++;
                }
                a[indexToAdd + i] = Storage[i];
            }

            foreach(int i in a)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(i);
            }
            Console.Read();
        }
    }
}