Find the x smallest integers in a list of length n

Question

You have a list of n integers and you want the x smallest. For example,

x_smallest([1, 2, 5, 4, 3], 3) should return [1, 2, 3].

I\'ll v

Answer 1

In pseudo code:

y = length of list / 2

if (x > y)
  iterate and pop off the (length - x) largest
else
  iterate and pop off the x smallest

O(n/2 * x) ?