最坏情况下，找到n个元素中第二小的元素需要(n-1)＋(lgn向上取整+1)

在最坏情况下，找到n个元素中第二小的元素需要n+向上取整lgn-2次比较。

class Num(object):
    def __init__(self, num):
        self.num=num
        self.compared=list()

    def __repr__(self):
        return "{0},{1}".format(self.num, self.compared)

    def __cmp__(self, obj):
        self.compared.append(obj.num)
        obj.compared.append(self.num)
        res = cmp(self.num, obj.num)
        if res==0:
            self.compared.extend(obj.compared)
            obj.compared.extend(self.compared)
        return res

def get_the_last_but_one(L):
    assert len(L) >= 2
    length = len(L)
    L = [Num(ele) for ele in L]
    for i in xrange(length-1):
        ele1, ele2 = L[0], L[1]
        del L[0], L[0]
        if ele1<=ele2:
            L.append(ele1)
        else:
            L.append(ele2)
    assert len(L) == 1
    compared = L[0].compared
    the_last_but_one = min(L[0].compared)
    return the_last_but_one 

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    L = sys.argv[1:]
    if not L:
        import random
        L = [random.randint(1, 10) for i in xrange(10)]
    print L
    print get_the_last_but_one(L)