Longest Consecutive Sequence(LeetCode)

题目：

难度级别: ★★★

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

For example,
Given [100, 4, 200, 1, 3, 2],
The longest consecutive elements sequence is [1, 2, 3, 4]. Return its length: 4.

Your algorithm should run in O(n) complexity.

题目分析：题目给出一个整数数组。要求出数组中，最长连续的序列有多长。题目要求线性时间复杂度。

思路：

1. 建立一个HashMap，把所有数组num中的数放到HashMap中
2. 从前往后遍历数组num中的每一个数
   • 对于num[i]，令count = 1
   • 先从num[i]开始往前一个个的检查，前面一个数是否在HashMap中，是的话count++，继续检查下一个前面的数
   • 再从num[i]开始往后一个个的检查，后面一个数是否在HashMap中，是的话count++，继续检查下一个后面的数
3. 检查完，num[i]，如果其count大于数组num大小的一半，count肯定是最大的，直接返回
4. 否则，检查count是否大于max，是的话令max = count

代码：

import java.util.HashMap;
public class Solution {
    public int longestConsecutive(int[] num) {
        if (num == null){
            return 0;
        }
        HashMap<Integer,Integer> map = new HashMap<Integer,Integer>();
        //put the numbers in num[] into the map
        for (int i = 0; i < num.length; i++){
            map.put(num[i],i);
        }
        int max = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < num.length; i++){
            int count = 1;
            //look the consecutive number of num[i] backward
            int temp = num[i];
            while (map.containsKey(--temp)){
                count++;
            }
            //look the consecutive number of num[i] forward
            temp = num[i];
            while (map.containsKey(++temp)){
                count++;
            }
            //if count is larger than the half of num[]'s size, directly return count
            if (count >= num.length/2 + 1){
                return count;
            }
            //else check whether count is larger than max
            if (count > max){
                max = count;
            }
        }
        return max;
    }
}