Write a program to find 100 largest numbers out of an array of 1 billion numbers

Question

I recently attended an interview where I was asked \"write a program to find 100 largest numbers out of an array of 1 billion numbers.\"

I was only able to give a br

Answer 1

THe complexity is O(N)

First create an array of 100 ints initialiaze the first element of this array as the first element of the N values, keep track of the index of the current element with a another variable, call it CurrentBig

Iterate though the N values

if N[i] > M[CurrentBig] {

M[CurrentBig]=N[i]; ( overwrite the current value with the newly found larger number)

CurrentBig++;      ( go to the next position in the M array)

CurrentBig %= 100; ( modulo arithmetic saves you from using lists/hashes etc.)

M[CurrentBig]=N[i];    ( pick up the current value again to use it for the next Iteration of the N array)

} 

when done , print the M array from CurrentBig 100 times modulo 100 :-) For the student: make sure that the last line of the code does not trump valid data right before the code exits