Find maximum value of an attribute in a array of objects [duplicate]

Question

In a Java program, I have a class WaterBody in which one of the attributes is a double for electric power output. How can I find the maximum electric power output value in an array of WaterBody instances?

Here's my prototype:

public static WaterBody mostPowerful(WaterBody[] waterBodies) {

}

Attribute is electricPower and I have the getter method getElectricPower

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

If you're using Java 8, you can write this as a one-liner:

public static WaterBody mostPowerful(WaterBody[] waterBodies) {
    return Arrays.stream(waterBodies)
            .max(Comparator.comparingDouble(WaterBody::getElectricPower))
            .orElseThrow(NoSuchElementException::new);
}

The orElseThrow(NoSuchElementException::new) causes a NoSuchElementException to be thrown if the incoming array is empty (and thus there is no maximum value). If you want to return null instead, use orElse(null).

Answer 2

I am afraid you'll have to do a linear search:

public static WaterBody mostPowerful(WaterBody[] waterBodies) {
    double maxValue = -1;
    int indexOfMaxValue = -1;
    for(int i = 0; i < waterBodies.length; i++) {
        if(waterBodies[i].getElectricPower() > maxValue) {
            indexOfMaxValue = i;
        }
    }
    return waterBodies[indexOfMaxValue];
}

A more elegant solution can be achieved by using a Comparator. It defines an Interface, which tells if one object is "bigger" or "smaller" than another. You can define a Comparator like that:

Comparator<String> cmp = new Comparator<WaterBody>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(WaterBody o1, WaterBody o2) {
        return Double.compare(o1.getElectricPower(), o2.getElectricPower());
    }
};

If you'll need do operations like these often, it is advised to have a collection which always keeps it's content sorted, like a TreeSet It would be a lot smarter to use a collection, which keeps it's content sorted.

TreeSet<WaterBody> waterBodiesTree = new TreeSet<>(cmp);
Collections.addAll(waterBodiesTree, waterBodies);
WaterBody smallest = waterBodiesTree.first();
WaterBody biggest = waterBodiesTree.last();

If you only need to sort your array, the first example I used turns into a one-liner (using the same Comparator as defined earlier):

public static WaterBody mostPowerful(WaterBody[] waterBodies) {
    return Collections.max(waterbodies, cmp);
}