Contains Duplicate

To solve this coding challenge, you need to determine whether there are any duplicate elements in a given array of integers. If the array contains at least one duplicate element, the function should return
true
; otherwise, it should return
false
.

Explanation

To solve this problem, one efficient approach is to use a set data structure. Sets are particularly useful in this context because they automatically handle duplicatesβ€”any attempt to add an element that already exists in the set will be ignored. Here is a step-by-step explanation of the approach:
  1. Initialize an Empty Set : Start by creating an empty set. This set will keep track of all unique elements encountered as we iterate through the array.
  2. Iterate Through the Array : Loop through each element in the array.
  3. Check for Duplicates : For each element, check if it already exists in the set.
    • If it exists, this means the array contains a duplicate, and you can return
      true
      immediately.
    • If it does not exist, add the element to the set.
  4. Return Result : If the loop completes without finding any duplicates, return
    false
    .
  5. Detailed Steps in Pseudocode

    Here's the pseudocode with detailed comments explaining each step:
                                                
    function containsDuplicate(integerArray nums):
    # Step 1: Initialize an empty set to track unique elements
    set uniqueElements = {}
    
    # Step 2: Iterate through each element in the input array
    for integer element in nums:
    # Step 3: Check if the element is already in the set
    if element in uniqueElements:
    # Duplicate found, return true
    return true
    
    # Step 4: Add the element to the set since it's not a duplicate
    uniqueElements.add(element)
    
    # Step 5: No duplicates were found, return false
    return false
    
                                            

    Step-by-Step Explanation

  6. Initialization :
    • set uniqueElements = {}
      : Here, we initialize an empty set named
      uniqueElements
      which will store each unique element from the input array as we encounter them.
  7. Iteration :
    • for integer element in nums
      : This for-loop goes through each integer in the array
      nums
      .
  8. Duplicate Check :
    • if element in uniqueElements
      : Inside the for-loop, for each integer
      element
      , we check if it is already present in the
      uniqueElements
      set.
      • return true
        : If the element is found in the set, it means we have encountered a duplicate. We immediately return
        true
        .
  9. Add to Set :
    • uniqueElements.add(element)
      : If the element is not found in the set, we add it to the
      uniqueElements
      set. This step ensures that we keep track of the elements we have already seen.
  10. Return False :
    • return false
      : If the loop finishes without returning
      true
      , it means no duplicates were found in the array. Therefore, we return
      false
      .
This approach is efficient with a time complexity of O(n), where n is the number of elements in the array. The space complexity is also O(n) in the worst case, when all elements are unique. By following these steps, you can effectively determine if an array contains any duplicate elements.