Searching and sorting java : So i am trying to solve this following question in java for practice as I am a beginneer and trying to strengthen my java skills. Here is the question...

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According to our suggested 16 week course schedule, this programming project
should be completed no later than the Monday of Week 13. It is worth 8 per cent of
your final grade. Please refer to your Assignment Instructions document on your
Home Page for details on the submission of your work. Your overall course
assessment information is found in your Course Guide.


1. The Shell sort is a variation of the bubble sort. Instead of comparing adjacent
values, the Shell sort adapts a concept from the binary search to determine a
‘gap’ across which values are compared before any swap takes place. In the
first pass, the gap is half the size of the array. For each subsequent pass, the
gap size is cut in half. For the final pass(es), the gap size is 1, so it would be
the same as a bubble sort. The passes continue until no swaps occur.
Below is the same set of values as per the bubble sort example in Chapter 18
(p.681), showing the first pass:

9 6 8 12 3 1 7 ‐‐ size of array is 7, so gap would be 3

9 6 8 12 3 1 7 ‐‐ 9 and 12 are already in order, so no
^---------^

9 6 8 12 3 1 7 ‐‐ 6 and 3 are not in order, so swap
 ^---------^

9 3 8 12 6 1 7 ‐‐ 8 and 1 are not in order, so swap
 ^---------^

9 3 1 12 6 8 7 ‐‐ 12 and 7 are not in order, so swap
 ^---------^

9 3 8 7 6 1 12 ‐‐ end of pass 1 
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I dont want anyone to give me the direct code but would appreciate a opinion on how to tackle the question as I am having a hard time getting it started. Please keep in mind that I am a begineer so know really advanced methods!

Thanks for your time