!hack & redesign: A trivial problem
The question was to write a function that given a string would return the character corresponding to the longest sub-string. E.g., the character corresponding to the longest sub-string in "aabbbakk" is 'b', since the longest sub-string is "bbb". The solution is assumed to be unique, i.e., "aabbbcc" is legal, but "aaabbbxxx" is not.
The question was to write a function that given a string would return the character corresponding to the longest sub-string. E.g., the character corresponding to the longest sub-string in "aabbbakk" is 'b', since the longest sub-string is "bbb". The solution is assumed to be unique, i.e., "aabbbcc" is legal, but "aaabbbxxx" is not.
char findCharFromMaximumSubstring(char *s){
int stringLength = strlen(s);
char previous = ' ', maxChar = ' ';
int length = 0, maxLength = 0;
for(int i=0; i<stringLength; i++){
char current = s[i];
if (previous == current) {
// still working on the same substring
length++;
} else {
// new substring, length is 1
length = 1;
// store the previous character for the next iteration
previous = current;
}
// check if we have found a longer substring and store its length
// and the corresponding character
if (length > maxLength) {
maxLength = length;
maxChar = current;
}
}
return maxChar;
} 