Glasgow | Prati Amalden | Module Complexity | Sprint 2 | precomputing

Sprint-2/improve_with_precomputing/common_prefix/common_prefix.py

@@ -6,13 +6,27 @@ def find_longest_common_prefix(strings: List[str]):
     find_longest_common_prefix returns the longest string common at the start of any two strings in the passed list.
 
     In the event that an empty list, a list containing one string, or a list of strings with no common prefixes is passed, the empty string will be returned.
+
+    Optimisation:
+    - Sort the list first
+    - Similar strings end up next to each other
+    - Compare neighbours only instead of all pairs
+
+    Complexity: O(n^2) -> O(n log n)
     """
+
+    if not strings or len(strings) < 2:
+        return ""
+
+    # Precompute sorted strings
+    sorted_strings = sorted(strings)
     longest = ""
-    for string_index, string in enumerate(strings):
-        for other_string in strings[string_index+1:]:
-            common = find_common_prefix(string, other_string)
-            if len(common) > len(longest):
-                longest = common
+
+    for i in range(len(sorted_strings) - 1):
+        common = find_common_prefix(sorted_strings[i], sorted_strings[i + 1])
+        if len(common) > len(longest):
+            longest = common
+
     return longest
 
 

Sprint-2/improve_with_precomputing/count_letters/count_letters.py

@@ -1,14 +1,18 @@
 def count_letters(s: str) -> int:
     """
     count_letters returns the number of letters which only occur in upper case in the passed string.
+
+    Optimisation:
+    - Convert string to set
+    - Avoid checking the whole string every time
+
+    Complicity: O(n^2) -> O(n)
     """
-    only_upper = set()
-    for letter in s:
-        if is_upper_case(letter):
-            if letter.lower() not in s:
-                only_upper.add(letter)
-    return len(only_upper)
+    chars = set(s)  # precompute all characters once
 
+    only_upper = set()
+    for letter in chars:  # iterate unique characters only
+        if letter.isupper() and letter.lower() not in chars:
+            only_upper.add(letter)
 
-def is_upper_case(letter: str) -> bool:
-    return letter == letter.upper()
+    return len(only_upper)