If you wanted to sort many large objects or structures, it would be most efficient to

The correct answer is: A. place them in an array and sort the array.

An array is a data structure that stores data in contiguous memory locations. This makes it efficient to access and sort the data. A linked list, on the other hand, stores data in non-contiguous memory locations. This makes it less efficient to access and sort the data.

Here is a brief explanation of each option:

• Option A: Place them in an array and sort the array. This is the most efficient option because arrays are stored in contiguous memory locations. This makes it easy to access and sort the data.
• Option B: Place pointers to them in an array and sort the array. This is less efficient than option A because pointers take up more space than the data itself. Additionally, pointers can be null, which can make it difficult to sort the data.
• Option C: Place them in a linked list and sort the linked list. This is the least efficient option because linked lists are stored in non-contiguous memory locations. This makes it difficult to access and sort the data.
• Option D: Place references to them in an array and sort the array. This is equivalent to option B, and is therefore less efficient than option A.