This notebook was prepared by Donne Martin. Source and license info is on GitHub.

Challenge Notebook¶

Problem: Implement a stack with push, pop, and min methods running O(1) time.¶

Constraints¶

Can we assume this is a stack of ints?
- Yes
Can we assume the input values for push are valid?
- Yes
If we call this function on an empty stack, can we return sys.maxsize?
- Yes
Can we assume we already have a stack class that can be used for this problem?
- Yes
Can we assume this fits memory?
- Yes

Test Cases¶

Push/pop on empty stack
Push/pop on non-empty stack
Min on empty stack
Min on non-empty stack

Algorithm¶

Refer to the Solution Notebook. If you are stuck and need a hint, the solution notebook's algorithm discussion might be a good place to start.

Code¶

In [ ]:

%run ../stack/stack.py
%load ../stack/stack.py

In [ ]:

import sys


class StackMin(Stack):

    def __init__(self, top=None):
        # TODO: Implement me
        pass

    def minimum(self):
        # TODO: Implement me
        pass

    def push(self, data):
        # TODO: Implement me
        pass

    def pop(self):
        # TODO: Implement me
        pass

Unit Test¶

The following unit test is expected to fail until you solve the challenge.

In [ ]:

# %load test_stack_min.py
import unittest


class TestStackMin(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_stack_min(self):
        print('Test: Push on empty stack, non-empty stack')
        stack = StackMin()
        stack.push(5)
        self.assertEqual(stack.peek(), 5)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 5)
        stack.push(1)
        self.assertEqual(stack.peek(), 1)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 1)
        stack.push(3)
        self.assertEqual(stack.peek(), 3)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 1)
        stack.push(0)
        self.assertEqual(stack.peek(), 0)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 0)

        print('Test: Pop on non-empty stack')
        self.assertEqual(stack.pop(), 0)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 1)
        self.assertEqual(stack.pop(), 3)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 1)
        self.assertEqual(stack.pop(), 1)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), 5)
        self.assertEqual(stack.pop(), 5)
        self.assertEqual(stack.minimum(), sys.maxsize)

        print('Test: Pop empty stack')
        self.assertEqual(stack.pop(), None)

        print('Success: test_stack_min')


def main():
    test = TestStackMin()
    test.test_stack_min()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Solution Notebook¶

Review the Solution Notebook for a discussion on algorithms and code solutions.