最坏线性时间的python实现 。

def short_find(a, rank):
    a.sort()
    return a[rank - 1]


# Find the rank'th-smallest value in a, in worst-case linear time.
def find(a, rank):
    n = len(a)
    assert 1 <= rank <= n
    if n <= 7:
        return short_find(a, rank)


    # Find median of median-of-7's.
    medians = [short_find(a[i : i+7], 4) for i in xrange(0, n-6, 7)]
    median = find(medians, (len(medians) + 1) // 2)


    # Partition around the median.
    # a[:i]   <= median
    # a[j+1:] >= median
    i, j = 0, n-1
    while i <= j:
        while a[i] < median:
            i += 1
        while a[j] > median:
            j -= 1
        if i <= j:
            a[i], a[j] = a[j], a[i]
            i += 1
            j -= 1


    if rank <= i:
        return find(a[:i], rank)
    else:
        return find(a[i:], rank - i)