Java Array, Finding Duplicates

Question

I have an array, and am looking for duplicates.

duplicates = false;
for(j = 0; j < zipcodeList.length; j++){
    for(k = 0; k < zipcodeList.length; k++         


        

Answer 1

Initialize k = j+1. You won't compare elements to themselves and you'll also not duplicate comparisons. For example, j = 0, k = 1 and k = 0, j = 1 compare the same set of elements. This would remove the k = 0, j = 1 comparison.

Answer 2

Let's see how your algorithm works:

an array of unique values:

[1, 2, 3]

check 1 == 1. yes, there is duplicate, assigning duplicate to true.
check 1 == 2. no, doing nothing.
check 1 == 3. no, doing nothing.
check 2 == 1. no, doing nothing.
check 2 == 2. yes, there is duplicate, assigning duplicate to true.
check 2 == 3. no, doing nothing.
check 3 == 1. no, doing nothing.
check 3 == 2. no, doing nothing.
check 3 == 3. yes, there is duplicate, assigning duplicate to true.

a better algorithm:

for (j=0;j<zipcodeList.length;j++) {
    for (k=j+1;k<zipcodeList.length;k++) {
        if (zipcodeList[k]==zipcodeList[j]){ // or use .equals()
            return true;
        }
    }
}
return false;