Counting Sort is a non-comparative algorithm that counts occurrences of each value and places them in sorted order, excelling when the range (k) is close to the number of elements (n).
Non-comparative: uses counting instead of comparisons
Stable: preserves order of equal elements
Linear time when range (k) is close to n
Requires extra space proportional to n + k
Counting Sort outperforms O(n log n) sorts when k is small