Am I implementing the "Heapify" Algorithm correctly? - c++

Question

I'm creating a heap implementation for a computer science class, and I was wondering if the following recursive function would create a heap out of an array object that was not already a heap.
the code is as follows:
void Heap::Heapify(int i)
{
int temp, l, r, heapify;
l = LeftChild(i);// get the left child
r = RightChild(i);// get the right child
//if one of the children is bigger than the index
if((Data[i] < Data[l]) || (Data[i]< Data[r]))
{
//if left is the bigger child
if(Data[l] > Data[r])
{
//swap parent with left child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[l];
Data[l] = temp;
heapify = l; // index that was swapped
}
//if right is the bigger child
else
{
//swap parent with right child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[r];
Data[r] = temp;
heapify = r; // index that was swapped
}
// do a recursive call with the index
//that was swapped
Heapify(heapify);
}
}
the idea is that you see if the data at the index given is bigger than all of it's children. If it is, the function ends no problem. Otherwise, it check to see which is biggest(left or right children), and then swaps that with the index. The heapify is then called at the index where the swapping happened.
by ildjarn's request, I'm including my full class definition and implementation files to aid in the answering of my question:
here's the header file:
#ifndef HEAP_H
#define HEAP_H
//Programmer: Christopher De Bow
//Date: november 15, 2011
class Heap
{
private:
int Data [100];
int Parent(int);
int RightChild(int);
int LeftChild(int);
void Heapify(int);
void BuildHeap();
public:
Heap();
void insert();
void HeapSort();
void ExtractMaximum();
int Maximum();
void PrintHeap();
int heapsize;
void SetData(int[]);
};
#endif
and the implementation file:
#include <iostream>
#include "Heap.h"
using namespace std;
//Programmer: Christopher De Bow
//Date: november 15, 2011
Heap::Heap()
{
int init [10] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
heapsize = 10;
SetData(init);
}
int Heap::Parent(int index)
{
int Rval;
if(index%2 == 0)// if the index is even
{
Rval = ((index-1)/2);
}
else// if the index is odd
{
Rval = (index/2);
}
return Rval;
}
int Heap::RightChild(int arrplace)
{
int ret;
ret = ((2*arrplace)+2); //rightchild is index times 2 plus 2
return ret;
}
int Heap::LeftChild(int i)
{
int rval;
rval = ((2*i)+1); //leftchild is index times 2 plus 1
return rval;
}
void Heap::Heapify(int i)
{
int temp, l, r, heapify;
l = LeftChild(i); // get the left child
r = RightChild(i); // get the right child
if((l <= heapSize) && (data[l] > data[i]))
{
heapify = l;
{
else
{
heapfiy = i;
}
if((r <= heapSize) && (data[r] > data[heapify]))
{
heapify = r;
}
if(heapify != i) // one of the two child nodes has proved
{ // larger than Data[i], so interchange values
//swap parent with left child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[heapify];
Data[heapify] = temp;
Heapify(heapify);
}
}
void Heap::BuildHeap()
{
// we do not have a heap
// we will make a heap
// by calling heapify starting at the lowest
// internal node in the heap
for(int i = heapsize; i >= 1; i--)
{
Heapify(i-1);
}
}
void Heap::insert()
{
int insert;
heapsize = (heapsize + 1);
//getting data from the user
cout<<"what data would you like to insert?"<<endl;
cin>>insert;
Data[heapsize] = insert;
BuildHeap(); //call BuildHeap on array
cout<<"done"<<endl;
}
void Heap::PrintHeap()
{
BuildHeap();
for(int count = 0; count < (heapsize-1); count++)
{
cout<<Data[count];// print out every element in heap
}
cout<<endl<<endl;
}
void Heap::HeapSort()
{
BuildHeap();
int temp;
// do this for every elem in heap:
for(int i = 0; i < heapsize; i++)
{
temp = Data[heapsize-1];
Data[heapsize-1] = Data[0];
Data[0] = temp;
heapsize--;
BuildHeap();
}
PrintHeap();
}
void Heap::ExtractMaximum()
{
BuildHeap();
//assign last thing in heap to first thing in heap
Data[0] = Data[heapsize];
heapsize --; // decrease heapsize by one
Heapify(0); // heapify from the top
}
int Heap::Maximum()
{
int Rval;
BuildHeap();// make sure we have a heap
Rval = Data[0];
return Rval; // return top thing
}
//initialize the elements in the "Data" array
void Heap::SetData(int x[])
{
for(int i = 0; i <= (heapsize); i++)
{
Data[i] = x[i];
}
}

Answer 1

Your algorithm works. The problem is in the translation of algorithm to code. Say you declared Data as :
int Data[7];
and you populate it with the initial values {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. Presuming definitions of LeftChild(i) and RightChild(i) to be something like:
#define LeftChild(i) ((i << 1) + 1)
#define RightChild(i) ((i << 1) + 2)
then your function BuildHeap(), which should be something like:
void Heap::BuildHeap()
{
for(int i = (7 >> 1); i >= 1; i--) // in general, replace 7 with
// (sizeof(Data)/sizeof(int)), presuming
// you have an array of int's. if not,
// replace int with the relevant data type
Heapify(i-1);
}
will begin the Heapify process on the lower-right-most sub-tree root. In this case, this is array index 2, with a left child of 5 and a right child of 6. Heapify will correctly exchange 2 and 6 and recursively call Heapify(6).
Here the whole thing can run aground! At present your tree looks like :
0
1 2
3 4 5 6
u n d e f i n e d s p a c e
so the call Heapify(6) will dutifully compare the values of Data[6] with Data[13] and Data[14] (the perils of C++ and its lack of array boundaries enforcement, unlike Java). Obviously, the latter two values can be any junk left in RAM. One solution here, ugly but a working patch, is to add 8 elements in the declaration of Data and initialize them all to some value lower than any element of the array. The better solution is to add a heapSize variable to your class and set it equal to the length of your array:
heapSize = (sizeof(Data)/sizeof(int));
Then integrate logic to only compare child nodes if they are valid leaves of the tree. An efficient implementation of this is :
void Heap::Heapify(int i)
{
int temp, l, r, heapify;
l = LeftChild(i); // get the left child
r = RightChild(i); // get the right child
if((l <= heapSize) && (Data[l] > Data[i]))
heapify = l;
else heapfiy = i;
if((r <= heapSize) && (Data[r] > Data[heapify]))
heapify = r;
if(heapify != i) // one of the two child nodes has proved
// larger than Data[i], so interchange values
{
//swap parent with left child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[heapify];
Data[heapify] = temp;
Heapify(heapify);
}
}
So to summarize, the solution is as straightforward as adding logic to make sure the child nodes are valid leaves of the tree, and your main function will have something like :
Heap heap;
// initialize Data here
heap.BuildHeap();
Hope that helps.

Answer 2

No. On the tree
1
/ \
/ \
/ \
2 3
/ \ / \
6 7 4 5
the output is going to be
3
/ \
/ \
/ \
2 5
/ \ / \
6 7 4 1
which has several heap violations. (I'm assuming that Data[l] and Data[r] are minus infinity if the corresponding children do not exist. You may need extra logic to ensure this.)
What your function does is fix a tree that may not be a heap but whose left and right subtrees are heaps. You need to call it on every node, in postorder (i.e., for i from n - 1 down to 0) so that the children of i are heaps when Heapify(i) is called.

Answer 3

Your code now successfully builds a heap. There was only one conceptual flaw : the rest were off-by-one indexing errors. The one fundamental error was in BuildHeap : you had
for(int i = heapSize; i >= 1; i--)
{
Heapify(i-1);
}
whereas this should be
for(int i = (heapSize / 2); i >= 1; i--)
{
Heapify(i-1);
}
This is really important, you must see that Heapify is always called on a tree root, and (this is really cool) you can easily find the last tree root in the array at the index ((heapSize/2) - 1) (this is for C++ and Java style where the first index == 0). The way it was written your code called Heapify on the last leaf of the tree, which is in error.
Other than that, I added comments to flag the off-by-one errors. I placed them flush left so you can easily find them. Hope you get a suberb understanding of algorithms and data structures! :-)
Your header file :
#ifndef HEAP_H
#define HEAP_H
//Programmer: Christopher De Bow
//Date: november 15, 2011
class Heap
{
private:
int Data [100];
int Parent(int);
int RightChild(int);
int LeftChild(int);
void Heapify(int);
void BuildHeap();
// SO added heapSize
int heapSize;
public:
Heap();
void insert();
void HeapSort();
void ExtractMaximum();
int Maximum();
void PrintHeap();
int heapsize;
void SetData(int[]);
};
#endif
Your cpp file :
#include <iostream>
#include "Heap.h"
using namespace std;
//Programmer: Christopher De Bow
//Date: november 15, 2011
Heap::Heap()
{
int init [10] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
heapSize = 10;
SetData(init);
}
int Heap::Parent(int index)
{
int Rval;
if(index%2 == 0)// if the index is even
{
Rval = ((index-1)/2);
}
else// if the index is odd
{
Rval = (index/2);
}
return Rval;
}
int Heap::RightChild(int arrplace)
{
int ret;
ret = ((2*arrplace)+2); //rightchild is index times 2 plus 2
return ret;
}
int Heap::LeftChild(int i)
{
int rval;
rval = ((2*i)+1); //leftchild is index times 2 plus 1
return rval;
}
void Heap::Heapify(int i)
{
int temp, l, r, heapify;
l = LeftChild(i); // get the left child
r = RightChild(i); // get the right child
// you have to compare the index to (heapSize - 1) because we are working
// with C++ and the first array index is 0 : l and r are direct indices
// into the array, so the maximum possible index is the heapSize'th
// element, which is at heapSize-1. this was kind of nasty as it let the
// heapify index get too large and led to a swap with memory beyond the
// last element of the array (again, C++ doesn't enforce array boundaries
// as Java does).
if((l <= (heapSize-1)) && (Data[l] > Data[i]))
heapify = l;
else
heapify = i;
// you have to compare the index to (heapSize - 1) because we are working
// with C++ and the first array index is 0 : l and r are direct indices
// into the array, so the maximum possible index is the heapSize'th
// element, which is at heapSize-1. this was kind of nasty as it let the
// heapify index get too large and led to a swap with memory beyond the
// last element of the array (again, C++ doesn't enforce array boundaries
// as Java does).
if((r <= (heapSize-1)) && (Data[r] > Data[heapify]))
heapify = r;
if(heapify != i) // one of the two child nodes has proved
{ // larger than Data[i], so interchange values
//swap parent with left child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[heapify];
Data[heapify] = temp;
Heapify(heapify);
}
}
void Heap::BuildHeap()
{
// we do not have a heap
// we will make a heap
// by calling heapify starting at the lowest
// internal node in the heap
// i must be initialized to (heapsize/2), please see my
// post for an explanation
for(int i = heapSize/2; i >= 1; i--)
{
Heapify(i-1);
}
}
void Heap::insert()
{
int insert;
heapSize = (heapSize + 1);
//getting data from the user
cout<<"what data would you like to insert?"<<endl;
cin>>insert;
Data[heapSize] = insert;
BuildHeap(); //call BuildHeap on array
cout<<"done"<<endl;
}
void Heap::PrintHeap()
{
BuildHeap();
// the array indices are from 0 through (heapSize-1), so
// count must be less than _or equal to_ (heapSize-1). another
// way of phrasing this (which i applied in this function)
// is (count < heapSize). you'll get better boundary conditions
// with practice.
for(int count = 0; count < heapSize; count++)
{
// added an endl to the output for clarity
cout << Data[count] << endl;// print out every element in heap
}
cout<<endl<<endl;
}
void Heap::HeapSort()
{
BuildHeap();
int temp;
// do this for every elem in heap:
for(int i = 0; i < heapSize; i++)
{
temp = Data[heapSize-1];
Data[heapSize-1] = Data[0];
Data[0] = temp;
heapSize--;
BuildHeap();
}
PrintHeap();
}
void Heap::ExtractMaximum()
{
BuildHeap();
//assign last thing in heap to first thing in heap
Data[0] = Data[heapSize];
heapSize--; // decrease heapSize by one
Heapify(0); // heapify from the top
}
int Heap::Maximum()
{
int Rval;
BuildHeap();// make sure we have a heap
Rval = Data[0];
return Rval; // return top thing
}
//initialize the elements in the "Data" array
void Heap::SetData(int x[])
{
// the array indices are from 0 through (heapSize-1), so
// count must be less than _or equal to_ (heapSize-1). another
// way of phrasing this (which i applied in this function)
// is (i < heapSize). you'll get better boundary conditions
// with practice.
for(int i = 0; i < heapSize; i++)
{
Data[i] = x[i];
}
}
// basic confirmation function
int main()
{
Heap heap;
heap.PrintHeap();
return 0;
}

Answer 4

Your code as written here sure feels right; but there's nothing quite like writing a few test cases to see how it performs. Be sure to test against a heap with 1, 2, 3, 4, and dozens of elements. (I expect the base case to be where this piece falls short -- how does it handle when i has no children?. Testing on small heaps ought to show in a hurry.)
Some small advice for this piece:
if(Data[l] > Data[r])
{
//swap parent with left child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[l];
Data[l] = temp;
heapify = l; // index that was swapped
}
//if right is the bigger child
else
{ //swap parent with right child
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[r];
Data[r] = temp;
heapify = r; // index that was swapped
}
You could probably gain some legibility by setting only the index in the if blocks:
if(Data[l] > Data[r]) {
swapme = l;
} else {
swapme = r;
}
temp = Data[i];
Data[i] = Data[swapme];
Data[swapme] = temp;
heapify = swapme;