why do we need to create an auxiliary array to rearrange it? - c++

i'm new to c++ and working through the problem of rearranging a sorted array in O(n) time so that first comes the maximum element, then the minimum, then the second max, then the second min, so it goes.
my solution doesn't pass the tests without an auxiliary array result to which I then copy over my values - see below for the initial and the working solutions:
// initial:
void maxMin(int arr[], int size) {
bool switchPointer = true;
int min_ptr = 0;
int max_ptr = size - 1;
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
if (switchPointer) {
arr[i] = arr[max_ptr];
max_ptr--;
} else {
arr[i] = arr[min_ptr];
min_ptr++;
}
switchPointer = !switchPointer;
}
}
// working
void maxMin(int arr[], int size) {
int* result = new int[size];
bool switchPointer = true;
int min_ptr = 0;
int max_ptr = size - 1;
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
if (switchPointer) {
result[i] = arr[max_ptr];
max_ptr--;
} else {
result[i] = arr[min_ptr];
min_ptr++;
}
switchPointer = !switchPointer;
}
for (int j = 0; j < size; j++) {
arr[j] = result[j]; // copying to original array
}
delete [] result;
}
why do we need an auxiliary result array? thank you!

Because if you apply your algorithm "in-place" you will overwrite MIN values of your original array before you could use them. Imagine:
arr = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
expected result is {5, 1, 4, 2, 3}
in first iteration you will do arr[0] = arr[4] // arr[0] is equal to 5 now
in second iteration you will do arr[1] = arr[0] // but this is not what you want, because arr[0] was already changed and is not equal to "1" anymore

Usually you use temp variables when you need to read your original source of data and not the modified version. In your case I think the problem arises when you do
arr[i] = arr[max_ptr]; or arr[i] = arr[min_ptr]; in your non working example. In this case you modify the array and you read (arr[max_ptr]) the same overwritten array leading to inconsistencies in your algorithm. Using an auxiliary variable solves the issue since you read the original data but you store it somewhere else.

Related

I am having a bad access issue

I am trying to create a merge function for two array structures in c++ but am coming up with a bad access error that I don't know how to solve. The error comes up when I am trying to swap the element in the smaller array into the larger, merged array. The code doesn't even go through a single iteration. All three of i, j, and k remain at 0. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Here is the code:
struct Array
{
int *A;
int size;
int length;
};
void display(Array arr){
for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
std::cout << arr.A[i] << std::endl;
}
Array merge(Array arr1, Array arr2){
Array arr3;
arr3.length = arr1.length + arr2.length;
arr3.size = arr1.length + arr2.length;
int i = 0, j =0, k =0;
while(i <arr1.length && j < arr2.length){
if (arr1.A[i] < arr2.A[j])
{
arr3.A[k] = arr1.A[i]; //(The error is displayed here: Thread 1: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0x28))
k++;
i++;
}
else if (arr2.A[j] < arr1.A[i])
{
arr3.A[k] = arr2.A[j];
k++;
j++;
}
}
for (; i< arr1.length; i++)
{
arr3.A[k]=arr1.A[i];
k++;
}
for (; i< arr2.length; j++)
{
arr3.A[k]=arr2.A[j];
k++;
}
return arr3;
}
int main() {
Array arr1;
arr1.size = 10;
arr1.length = 5;
arr1.A = new int[arr1.size];
arr1.A[0]= 2;
arr1.A[1]= 6;
arr1.A[2]= 10;
arr1.A[3]= 15;
arr1.A[4]= 25;
Array arr2;
arr2.size = 10;
arr2.length = 5;
arr2.A = new int[arr2.size];
arr2.A[0]= 3;
arr2.A[1]= 4;
arr2.A[2]= 7;
arr2.A[3]= 18;
arr2.A[4]= 20;
Array arr3 = merge(arr1, arr2);
display(arr3);
return 0;
}
Your Array arr3 does not allocate any memory for its int *A field. It's natural that it would not work.
Anyway, your implementation of Array is very poor. Don't reimplement arrays unless you have a good reason; use std::vector instead.
If you really need to implement an Array on your own, then learn about encapsulation, make a class with a constructor, and allocate/delete your data (*A) field properly. Remember, using pointers and heap memory without understanding them is a recipe for disaster.
Easy: arr3.A is not initialized. It's a pointer. What does it point to?
Suggestion: learn about dynamic memory allocation.

Main skipping over function?

I'm attempting to teach myself the basics of algorithms and data structures through a free online course, and as such, I though it'd give it a first shot at merge sort. This isn't really going to be used for anything so it's pretty sloppy, but I seem to be having a problem where main is not calling the MergeSort function.
The output is 00000000, (I assume because array is never assigned anything). When I run the program through gdb the program seems to get to that line, and then completely skip over the function and go directly to the loop that prints the array.
Any thoughts? Am I missing something stupid?
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int *MergeSort(int array[], int sizeOf);
int main(){
int numbers[8] = {5, 4, 1, 8, 7, 2, 6, 3};
int *array = MergeSort(numbers, 8);
for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++)
cout << array[i];
return 0;
}
int *MergeSort(int array[], int sizeOf){
int *leftArr = new int[sizeOf/2]; // Build arrays to split in half
int *rightArr = new int[sizeOf/2];
if (sizeOf < 2){ // Base case to end recursion
return array;
}
else{
for (int i = 0; i < (sizeOf/2); i++){ // Left gets first half
leftArr[i] = array[i];
}
int j = (sizeOf/2) - 1; // Set point to start building 2nd
for (int i = sizeOf; i >= (sizeOf/2); i--){
rightArr[j] = array[i]; // Build other half of array
j--;
}
leftArr = MergeSort(leftArr, sizeOf/2); // Call Recursive functions
rightArr = MergeSort(rightArr, sizeOf/2);
}
static int *newArray = new int[sizeOf]; // Sorted array to Build
int k = 0; // Iterators to build sorted func
int m = 0;
int p = 0;
while (p < sizeOf){
if (leftArr[k] < rightArr[m]){ // Left Arr's current value is less
newArray[p] = leftArr[k]; // right arr's current calue
k++;
}
else if (leftArr[k] >= rightArr[m]){
newArray[p] = rightArr[k];
m++;
}
p++;
}
//for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++)
// cout << newArray[i] << endl;
return newArray; // Return address to new array
}
There is a fundamental design issue in your MergeSort():
your algorithm is recursive (that's perfect)
unfortunately it returns newArraywhich is static. This means that all invocations use the same instance of the same static variable (and overwrite the one returned by the recursive call).
You need to solve this by making newArray non static. And at the end of the function, you need to delete[] the arrays returned by recursive calls in order to avoid memory leakage.

Checking if an index of an array is empty

I'm currently trying to write a script so that I can add an item to the last index the array has an item in. For example, if I initialized an array int a[5] and a[0], a[1], a[2] all have something, then the integer would be added to a[3]Here is what I have :
int main(){
int a[5];
a[0] = 10;
a[1] = 20;
a[2] = 30;
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++){
if (a[i] < 0){
a[i] = 40; //Just an example for what it would be like.
}
}
}
I can't help but feel that there is a better way to do this, maybe a different if condition. I want to know if there's another way to check if the next index is empty.
You could use an array index counter. Say, int counter = 0;
Use the counter as an index when you store integers to the array a, like a[counter] = 5 After you add an integer to your array, increment the counter, counter++.
This way you could make sure that the next value being added to the array is always added the way you described in the question
A few things to probably clear up what looks like a misunderstanding around what an array is:
When you declare an array say
int main()
{
int a[5];
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
printf("a[%d] = %d", i, a[i]);
}
}
All elements in the array exist already. Namely, you can access a[0] ... a[4] without hitting an error. All values of the array have already been set implicitly and you can see this by seeing the output of the printf. Note that those are values that you haven't set yourself and will vary. If you're curious about why they vary, you can see this: Variable initialization in C++
To set those values explicitly, you can initialize all values in the array to 0 like so:
int main()
{
int a[5] = {0};
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
printf("a[%d] = %d", i, a[i]);
}
}
or through use of a static initializer
int main()
{
int a[5] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
printf("a[%d] = %d", i, a[i]);
}
}
However because all values of the array already exist on creation, there isn't really such a state as "uninitialized array" in C++ as they are . The value of a[3] is either set implicitly or explicitly depending on how you created the array.
std::vector is a dynamically growing array, based on how much space you need. In order to have this effect, std::vector keeps track of how much of the array is "used" through use of a size variable. If you wanted to reimplement that to get an idea of how it might be done, you would probably want a class like:
class MyArray
{
public:
MyArray() : m_size(0)
{
}
void AddVal(int data)
{
if (m_size < 5)
{
m_array[m_size++] = data;
}
}
int GetSize()
{
return m_size;
}
private:
int m_array[5];
int m_size;
}
If you initialize the array to 0, you can check if the value is 0.
Initilize:
int array[5] = {0};
Check for 0:
array[4] == 0;

Sorting an array by increasing frequency of element

I would like to sort an array by increasing order of frequency. For example, if I had an array
int arr[] = { 3, 3, 10, 2, 5, 10, 10, 2, 2, 2 };
or another array would have the following sequence in it:
int arr[] = {5, 3, 3, 10, 10, 10, 2, 2, 2, 2};
However, I cannot use hashing or maps – I can only use arrays. What I have thought of is sorting the array using a quick sort algorithm, scanning the sorted array and performing the count in a 2d array so that for each element, there is a count associated with it, and then sorting by count. If two counts are same then I would merely print out the one with the lower value first. I'm having trouble implementing the last two steps. I'm not sure how to "map" a count to an index in the 2d array, nor am I sure on how to sort the 2d array by a count. Could anyone help me out? Thanks!
Scan your array (sort first to optimize, but not needed), and generate an array of the struct below. Now sort the array of these structs, then regenerate your original array.
struct ElemCount {
int Elem;
int count;
bool operator<(const ElemCount& other) {
if (count!=other.count)
return count<other.count;
return Elem<other.Elem;
}
};
That's how I'd code it without STL (requires additional O(n) memory):
// Represents a bunch of equal numbers in an array
struct Bunch
{
int x; // value of numbers
int n; // count of numbers
};
int cmp_int(const void *x, const void *y)
{
return *static_cast<const int*>(x) - *static_cast<const int*>(y);
}
int cmp_bunch(const void *x, const void *y)
{
const Bunch* bx = static_cast<const Bunch*>(x);
const Bunch* by = static_cast<const Bunch*>(y);
return (bx->n != by->n) ? bx->n - by->n : bx->x - by->x;
}
void sort_by_freq(int arr[], int arr_size)
{
// Buffer array to store counted bunches of numbers
Bunch* buf = new Bunch [arr_size];
int buf_size = 0;
// Sort input array
qsort(arr, arr_size, sizeof(int), cmp_int);
// Compute bunches
Bunch bunch;
bunch.x = arr[0];
bunch.n = 1;
for (int i = 1; i < arr_size; ++i)
{
if (arr[i] > bunch.x)
{
buf[buf_size++] = bunch;
bunch.x = arr[i];
bunch.n = 1;
}
else
{
++bunch.n;
}
}
buf[buf_size++] = bunch; // Don't forget the last one!
// Sort bunches
qsort(buf, buf_size, sizeof(Bunch), cmp_bunch);
// Populate bunches to the input array
int i = 0;
for (int k = 0; k < buf_size; ++k)
for (int j = 0; j < buf[k].n; ++j) arr[i++] = buf[k].x;
// Don't forget to deallocate buffer, since we cannot rely on std::vector...
delete [] buf;
}

Inserting an element into an array

How can I make an inset method that will add a number into the array in the correct order?
void addElement(int table[], int element, int length) {
int x = 0;
int temporary=0;
cout<<length<<endl;
if(length == 1) {
table[0] = element;
}
else {
if(length == 2) {
if (table[0] > element) {
int temp = table[0];
table[0] = element;
table[1] = temp;
}
else {
table[1] = element;
}
}
else {
for(int i = 0; i< length && x == 0; i++) {
if(element<table[i] && element>=table[i-1]) {
for(int y = i; y<length; y++) {
temporary = table[y+2];
int temp = table[y];
table[y] = element;
table[y+1] = table
}
}
}
}
}
}
This is as far as I have gotten. In my main class I have worked it out so that array is increased by 1. So there is one open space at the end of the array for everything to be pushed back by 1.
You can scan the array from back to front, moving values up until you find the correct insertion point.
void addElement(int *table, int element, int length)
{
int i = length - 1;
for (; i > 0 && table[i-1] > element; --i)
{
table[i] = table[i-1];
}
table[i] = element;
}
Write a shiftElements function, write a findIndexOfFirstGreaterThan function, then in addElement - find the index, if -1 then put in last slot, else shift elements using index, then a[index]=elem;
Draw yourself an example, then work out a list of very simple steps required to do what you want.
Then write code that does those steps.
Im not sure if this is what your looking for, but I think you want something that adds an element depending on its integer value. Also, I do not have access to a compiler at this moment so there might be a couple of errors. The code below is just written to give you a brief idea of what you could do, but probably not a perfect solution to your problem.
int addElement (int element, int array [], int length)
{
vector <int> vectorOfInts; //vector to store current order of ints
vector <int> vectorOfArrangedInts; //vector to store arranged order
for (int counter = 0; counter < length; counter ++) //loop to fill the array with values
{
vectorOfInts.push_back (array [counter]);
}
for (int counter = 0; counter < vectorOfInts.length(); counter ++) //loop through all elements
{
int temp = 0; //stores temp value of biggest number found at a specific moment
int elementIndex; //stores indexes
for (int counterTwo = 0; counterTwo < vectorOfInts.length(); counterTwo ++) //loop through all elements to find the biggest array
{
if (vectorOfInts.at (counterTwo) >= temp) //if value is bigger than current biggest number
{
temp = vectorOfInts.at (counterTwo); //change temp value
elementIndex = counterTwo; //remember index
}
}
vectorOfArrangedInts.push_back (vectorOfInts.at(elementIndex)); //add the biggest number to the arranged values
vectorOfInts.erase (vectorOfInts.begin() + elementIndex); //remove the biggest element
}