Stack Overflow error in Merge Sort algorithm?

Question

I'm writing a merge sort class in java and i get a stack overflow error when I get to the sort(left) line. Any thoughts? I don't understand why this would be a problem.

package ds;

import java.util.Comparator;

public class MergeSorter<T> extends Sorter<T> {

public MergeSorter(Comparator<T> comparator){
    super(comparator);
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
@Override
public void sort(T[] array){
    if (array.length <= 1);
    else {
        T[] left = (T[]) new Object[array.length/2 + 1];
        T[] right = (T[]) new Object[array.length/2 + 1];
        int middleIndex = array.length / 2;
        for (int i = 0; i < middleIndex; i++) {
            left[i] = array[i];
        }
        for (int i = middleIndex; i < array.length; i++) {
            right[i - middleIndex] = array[i];
        }
        sort(left);
        sort (right);
        merge(left, right, array);
    }
}

public final void merge(T[] left, T[] right, T[] array){
    Array<T> sortedArray = new Array<T>(array.length);
    while (left.length > 0 || right.length > 0) {
        if (left.length > 0 && right.length > 0) {
            if (comparator.compare(left[0], right[0]) < 0) {
                sortedArray.add(left[0]);
                for (int i = 1; i < left.length; i++) {
                    left[i - 1] = left[i];
                    left[left.length - 1] = null;
                }
            }
            else {
                sortedArray.add(right[0]);
                for (int i = 1; i < right.length; i++) {
                    right[i - 1] = right[i];
                    right[right.length - 1] = null;
                }
            }
        }
        else if (left.length > 0) {
            sortedArray.add(left[0]);
            for (int i = 1; i < left.length; i++) {
                left[i - 1] = left[i];
                left[left.length - 1] = null;
            }
        }
        else if (right.length > 0) {
            sortedArray.add(right[0]);
            for (int i = 1; i < right.length; i++) {
                right[i - 1] = right[i];
                right[right.length - 1] = null;
            }
        }
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
        array[i] = sortedArray.get(i);
    }
}

}

Answer 1

Suppose the array has length 2. Then left is:

T[] left = (T[]) new Object[array.length/2 + 1];

which is

T[] left = (T[]) new Object[2/2 + 1];

and this equals to

T[] left = (T[]) new Object[2];

And when you sort on left, this continues, and leads to an infinite recursion which might have caused the stack overflow error you posted.

Since you are copying the first middleIndex elements into left, middleIndex length should right fit the array left. So left should be a length array.length/2 array.