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 Question 1
11/10/23, 12:45 AM Sorting (Advanced) (page 1 of 5)

Correct
Marked out of 2.00

The best way to sort a singly linked list given the head pointer is probably using merge sort.
Both Merge sort and Insertion sort can be used for linked lists. The slow random-access performance of a linked list makes other
algorithms (such as quick sort) perform poorly, and others (such as heap sort) completely impossible. Since worst case time
complexity of Merge Sort is O(nLogn) and Insertion sort is O(n^2), merge sort is preferred.
Additionally, Merge Sort for linked list only requires a small constant amount of auxiliary storage.
To gain a deeper understanding about Merge sort on linked lists, let's implement mergeLists and mergeSortList function below
Constraints:
0 <= list.length <= 10^4
0 <= node.val <= 10^6
Use the nodes in the original list and don't modify ListNode's val attribute.
struct ListNode {
int val;
ListNode* next;
ListNode(int _val = 0, ListNode* _next = nullptr) : val(_val), next(_next) { }
};

// Merge two sorted lists

ListNode* mergeSortList(ListNode* head);

// Sort an unsorted list given its head pointer

ListNode* mergeSortList(ListNode* head);

For example:
Test Input Result
int arr1[] = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
int arr2[] = {2, 4, 6, 8};
unordered_map<ListNode*, int> nodeAddr;
ListNode* a = init(arr1, sizeof(arr1) / 4, nodeAddr);
ListNode* b = init(arr2, sizeof(arr2) / 4, nodeAddr);
ListNode* merged = mergeLists(a, b);
try {
printList(merged, nodeAddr);
}
catch(char const* err) {
cout << err << '\n';
}
freeMem(merged);

int size; 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
cin >> size; 9 3 8 2 1 6 7 4 5
int* array = new int[size];
for(int i = 0; i < size; i++) cin >> array[i];
unordered_map<ListNode*, int> nodeAddr;
ListNode* head = init(array, size, nodeAddr);
ListNode* sorted = mergeSortList(head);
try {
printList(sorted, nodeAddr);
}
catch(char const* err) {
cout << err << '\n';
}
freeMem(sorted);
delete[] array;

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11/10/23, 12:45 AM Sorting (Advanced) (page 1 of 5)
Answer: (penalty regime: 0 %)
Reset answer
1 ▼ ListNode* mergeLists(ListNode* a, ListNode* b) {
2 ListNode* c = new ListNode(0);
3 ListNode* tmp = c;
4 ▼ while (a && b){
5 ▼ if (a -> val > b -> val){
6 tmp -> next = b;
7 b = b -> next;
8 }
9 ▼ else{
10 tmp -> next = a;
11 a = a -> next;
12 }
13 tmp = tmp -> next;
14 }
15 ▼ while (a){
16 tmp -> next = a;
17 a = a -> next;
18 tmp = tmp -> next;
19 }
20 ▼ while (b){
21 tmp -> next = b;
22 b = b -> next;
23 tmp = tmp -> next;
24 }
25 return c -> next;
26 }
27
28 // Sort and unsorted list given its head pointer
29
30 ▼ ListNode* mergeSortList(ListNode* head){
31 if (head == nullptr || head -> next == nullptr) return head;
32 ListNode *slow_ptr = head;
33 ListNode *fast_ptr = head;
34 ▼ if (fast_ptr -> next -> next != nullptr){
35 ▼ while (fast_ptr != nullptr && fast_ptr->next != nullptr) {
36 fast_ptr = fast_ptr->next->next;
37 slow_ptr = slow_ptr->next;
38 }
39 }
40 ListNode * temp slow ptr > next;

Precheck Check

Test Input Expected Got

 int arr1[] = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
int arr2[] = {2, 4, 6, 8}; 9 9
unordered_map<ListNode*, int> nodeAddr;
ListNode* a = init(arr1, sizeof(arr1) / 4,
nodeAddr);
ListNode* b = init(arr2, sizeof(arr2) / 4,
nodeAddr);
ListNode* merged = mergeLists(a, b);
try {
printList(merged, nodeAddr);
}
catch(char const* err) {
cout << err << '\n';
}
freeMem(merged);

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11/10/23, 12:45 AM Sorting (Advanced) (page 1 of 5)

Test Input Expected Got

 int size; 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
cin >> size; 9 3 8 2 1 6 7 4 9 9
int* array = new int[size]; 5
for(int i = 0; i < size; i++) cin >> array[i];
unordered_map<ListNode*, int> nodeAddr;
ListNode* head = init(array, size, nodeAddr);
ListNode* sorted = mergeSortList(head);
try {
printList(sorted, nodeAddr);
}
catch(char const* err) {
cout << err << '\n';
}
freeMem(sorted);
delete[] array;

Passed all tests! 

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