Leetcode 128 level 1

Given an unsorted array of integers, find the length of the longest consecutive elements sequence.

Your algorithm should run in O(n) complexity.

Example:

Input: [100, 4, 200, 1, 3, 2]
Output: 4
Explanation: The longest consecutive elements sequence is [1, 2, 3, 4]. Therefore its length is 4.

Note: My first thought was to store the all the numbers in a container. And loop through all the numbers in the vector. For each number in the vector, we just check whether its neighbors are also in the container or not.

However, this solution got a time-limited feedback. To speed up the solution, I made a little adjustment. After every check in the container, if we find that number, we just delete it in the container.

Solution:

class Solution {
public:
    int longestConsecutive(vector<int>& nums) {
        std::set<int> s(nums.begin(),nums.end());
        int longest_length=0;
        for(int i=0;i<nums.size();++i){
            int pre=nums[i]-1,next=nums[i]+1;
            s.erase(nums[i]);
            while(true){
                if(s.find(pre)!=s.end()){
                    s.erase(pre);
                    --pre;
                }
                else if(s.find(next)!=s.end()){
                    s.erase(next);
                    ++next;
                }
                else{
                    longest_length = max(next-pre-1,longest_length);
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        return longest_length;
    }
};