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Alexander Certosimo
1,774 Pointsconfused by this function i found
Would anyone be able to explain to me how this function returns the largest and smallest elements in the array?
func largestAndSmallest(inArray:[Int])-> (Int, Int) {
var largest = inArray[0]
var smallest = inArray[0]
for index in 1..<inArray.count {
if largest < inArray[index] {
largest = inArray[index]
}
if smallest > inArray[index] {
smallest = inArray[index]
}
}
return (largest, smallest)
}
i cant really understand the if statements with largest being "less than" and smallest being "greater than"? i am a bit disappointed in myself for not understanding these basics, but i figured id ask for help. thank you
1 Answer
Alexander Certosimo
1,774 Pointsthank you Jun Hao, totally understand what is going on now. Much appreciated for the detailed explanation!
Jun Hao Yap
9,074 PointsJun Hao Yap
9,074 PointsAn example would help you understand this really quickly:
Example array: [3, 4, 5, 1]
At first:
largest = 3 smallest = 3
1st iteration:
inArray[1] = 4
if 3 < 4 which is true, largest now = 4 if 3 > 4 which is false, smallest remains 3
2nd iteration:
inArray[2] = 5
if 4 < 5 which is true, largest now = 5 if 3 > 5 which is false, smallest remains 3
last iteration:
inArray[3] = 1
if 5 < 1 which is false, largest remains 5 if 3 > 1 which is true, smallest now = 1
Eyeballing the array would quickly tell us that 1 is indeed the smallest and 5 is indeed the biggest.
In essence, the function assumes that the first element is both the largest and smallest and iterates over every single element in the Array, check whether the current smallest/largest is indeed smaller or larger than the current iterable element and updating the largest and smallest.
At the end of every single element, the function will correctly return the smallest and the largest element from the element.