This project is a simple one where we need to build the most efficient
indexOf implementation for an array.
Assume you have an array of ordered elements that are non-contiguous. This means your numbers go up, but there will be gaps between them:
[0, 1, 11, 19, 45, 88, 173, 288, 358, 484]
In this array we want to find the index to the number 288. In JavaScript
you might do something like this: arr.indexOf(288) // <- 7. But the
strategy for this lookup is likely a loop over the data giving us a
Big O of n cost. This means that to find the last element (484) you
would have to touch all n elements (10). But if your strategy had been to
start from the back you would have had a cost of (1) instead.
Our challenge is to find a general algorithm that can solve this in the best possible time for any-sized array. Imagine millions of elements.
Your answer should be written in the src/answer.js file. Feel free to write
any number of other files while working -- we advise duplicating answer.js to
something like try1.js and then repeating that as often as needed.
Now that you have this project checked out, let's set things up:
npm install
Now you should have the required packages and you're ready to go. Let's run the test program to see if everything is happy:
# from project root
node ./src/test_install.js
# EXPECTED OUTPUT: (or similar)
# [ 0, 1, 11, 19, 45, 88, 173, 288, 358, 484 ]
# [ 0, 1, 11, 19, 45, 88, 173, 288, 358, 484 ]
# [ 0, 1, 11, 19, 45, 88, 173, 288, 358, 484 ]