How Can We Efficiently Merge Two Sorted Arrays?

Merging Sorted Arrays Efficiently: An Improved Method

To merge two sorted arrays into a single sorted array, several programming approaches can be employed. However, one of the most efficient and frequently recommended techniques is as follows:

This algorithm iterates through both arrays simultaneously, comparing the elements at each current index and appending the smaller element to the output array. This process continues until one of the arrays is exhausted. Any remaining elements in the other array are then appended.

Here is an example of an optimized implementation of this algorithm in Java:

public static int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) {

    int[] answer = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0;

    while (i < a.length && j < b.length)
        answer[k++] = a[i] < b[j] ? a[i++] : b[j++];

    while (i < a.length)
        answer[k++] = a[i++];

    while (j < b.length)
        answer[k++] = b[j++];

    return answer;
}

This approach has a time complexity of O(n m), where n and m represent the lengths of arrays a and b, respectively. This improved version eliminates unnecessary checks for exhaustion and employs a compact while loop construction for efficient merging.

The above is the detailed content of How Can We Efficiently Merge Two Sorted Arrays?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!