475. Heaters

Question

 

- Nested loop, time exceeded.

- Binary search.

- Note: whenever uses binary search, sort before search.

public class Solution {
    public int findRadius(int[] houses, int[] heaters) {
        if(houses == null || heaters == null || houses.length == 0 || heaters.length == 0){
            return 0;
        }
        
        Arrays.sort(heaters);
        
        int res = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
        for(int house:houses){
            int curMin = helper(house, heaters, 0, heaters.length-1, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
            res = Math.max(curMin, res);
        }
        
        return res;
    }
    
    public int helper(int house, int[] heaters, int left, int right, int minVal){
        if(left>right){
            return minVal;
        }
        
        int mid = (left+right)/2;
        if(house == heaters[mid]){
            return 0;
        } else if(house<heaters[mid]){
            minVal = Math.min(minVal, heaters[mid] - house);
            return helper(house, heaters, left, mid-1, minVal);
        } else{
            minVal = Math.min(minVal, house-heaters[mid]);
            return helper(house, heaters, mid+1, right, minVal);
        }
    }
}