# Dynamic Array Problem (Hacker rank)

I am trying to solve the Dynamic Array problem on HackerRank:

• Create a list, seqList, of N empty sequences, where each sequence is indexed from 0 to N-1. The elements within each of the N sequences also use 0-indexing.
• Create an integer, lastAnswer, and initialize it to 0.
• The 2 types of queries that can be performed on your list of sequences (seqList) are described below:
1. Query: 1 x y
1. Find the sequence, seq, at index ((x ^ lastAnswer) % N) in seqList.
2. Append integer y to sequence seq.
2. Query: 2 x y
1. Find the sequence, seq, at index ((x ^ lastAnswer) % N) in seqList.
2. Find the value of element y % size in seq (where size is the size of seq) and assign it to lastAnswer.
3. Print the new value of lastAnswer on a new line.

However, I am getting a “time out error” for very large inputs.

Below is my code in Swift so far:

func dynamicArray(n: Int, queries: [[Int]]) -> [Int] {
var sequences: [Int: [Int]] = [:]
var lastAnswer = 0
var answerlist = [Int]()
for query in queries {
let queryType = query[0]
let x = query[1]
let y = query[2]
switch queryType {
case 1:
let seq = (x ^ lastAnswer) % n
if var sequence = sequences[seq] {
sequence.append(y)
sequences[seq] = sequence
} else {
sequences[seq] = [y]
}
case 2:
let seq = (x ^ lastAnswer) % n
let index = y % (sequences[seq])!.count
lastAnswer = sequences[seq]![index]
answerlist.append(lastAnswer)
default: break
}
}
return answerlist
}


Can it be further optimised?

• For which input this code is being failed? Jan 22, 2020 at 7:22
• (PFB made me think you Canadian.) Jan 22, 2020 at 7:31
• Please block-quote the gist of the problem statement near the top of your question. Please describe how the code solves the problem - in the code, preferably. Jan 22, 2020 at 7:34

## 1 Answer

You chose to represent the “list of sequences” as a dictionary

var sequences: [Int: [Int]] = [:]


and here you test if a sequence for the given index already exists, and then either append a new element or create the initial sequence for that index:

if var sequence = sequences[seq] {
sequence.append(y)
sequences[seq] = sequence
} else {
sequences[seq] = [y]
}


That can be greatly simplified by using a subscript with a default value:

sequences[seq, default: []].append(y)


But actually, instead of representing the “list of sequences” as a dictionary I would represent it as an array (of arrays) instead:

var sequences: [[Int]] = Array(repeating: [], count: n)


The number of sequences is a-priori known, so that there is no advantage of using a dictionary. Appending a new element to a sequences (query type 1) then becomes

sequences[seq].append(y)


and for query type 2 we get

lastAnswer = sequences[seq][index]
answerlist.append(lastAnswer)


without the need of forced-unwrapping for the dictionary subscripting.

This should also be more efficient, because (array) index lookups are faster than dictionary lookups.

Some more remarks:

• The type of a variable should not be part of the variable name, e.g. answers instead of answerList.
• Multiple (related) assignments can be combined to a tuple assignment, e.g.

let (queryType, x, y) = (query[0], query[1], query[2])

• We know that the query type can only be 1 or 2, but a fatalError() in the default case helps to find programming errors.

Putting it together, the function could look like this:

func dynamicArray(n: Int, queries: [[Int]]) -> [Int] {
var sequences: [[Int]] = Array(repeating: [], count: n)
var lastAnswer = 0
var answers = [Int]()
for query in queries {
let (queryType, x, y) = (query[0], query[1], query[2])
switch queryType {
case 1:
let seq = (x ^ lastAnswer) % n
sequences[seq].append(y)
case 2:
let seq = (x ^ lastAnswer) % n
let index = y % sequences[seq].count
lastAnswer = sequences[seq][index]
answers.append(lastAnswer)
default:
fatalError("Bad query type")
}
}
return answers
}


In addition, it seems that most of the time is spent while reading the input data into the queries array, done by the (HackerRank supplied template) code

guard let queriesRowTemp = readLine()?.replacingOccurrences(of: "\\s+$", with: "", options: .regularExpression) else { fatalError("Bad input") } let queriesRow: [Int] = queriesRowTemp.split(separator: " ").map { if let queriesItem = Int($0) {
return queriesItem
} else { fatalError("Bad input") }
}


Instead of removing trailing whitespace with a regular expression search we can split the input row and ignore empty components:

guard let queriesRowTemp = readLine() else { fatalError("Bad input") }
let queriesRow: [Int] = queriesRowTemp.split(separator: " ",
omittingEmptySubsequences: true).map {
if let queriesItem = Int(\$0) {
return queriesItem
} else { fatalError("Bad input") }
}


In my test that cut the time to read 100000 queries down from 3.7 to 1.7 seconds.

• I tried your code. However, the 6 out of 10 test cases are still failing. Your code seems to increase the readability but over all time complexity remained the same. So, the issue i faced is still persisting. Note: I also used 2-D array in my first attempt, but it couldn't help; then after i made sequences as dictionary as it as O(1) complexity in most of the cases. Please refer [link] (raywenderlich.com/1172-collection-data-structures-in-swift) Jan 22, 2020 at 9:22
• @SiddharthKumar: See updated answer. Jan 22, 2020 at 10:07
• Thanks Martin. The issue was with the hacker rank template code itself. Great work for pointing it out. Jan 22, 2020 at 10:34