How can we find second maximum from array efficiently?

Question

Is it possible to find the second maximum number from an array of integers by traversing the array only once?

As an example, I have a array of five integers from whi

Answer 1

Here you are:

std::pair GetTwoBiggestNumbers(const std::vector& array)
{
    std::pair biggest;
    biggest.first = std::max(array[0], array[1]);  // Biggest of the first two.
    biggest.second = std::min(array[0], array[1]); // Smallest of the first two.

    // Continue with the third.
    for(std::vector::const_iterator it = array.begin() + 2;
        it != array.end();
        ++it)
    {
        if(*it > biggest.first)
        {
            biggest.second = biggest.first;
            biggest.first = *it;
        }
        else if(*it > biggest.second)
        {
            biggest.second = *it;
        }
    }

    return biggest;
}