TCS NQT 2025 Coding Question: Find Second Largest Element (Python Solution)
The TCS NQT 2025 coding round is known for asking array manipulation questions. One of the most repeated questions in the "tcs digital" and "prime" slots is finding the second largest element in an array without using built-in sorting functions. If you are preparing for the upcoming off-campus drive, here is the logic and Python code to solve this problem efficiently. Problem Statement: Given an array of integers, find the second largest distinct element. Input: [12, 35, 1, 10, 34, 1] Output: 34 Why is this tricky? Many students make the mistake of simply sorting the array arr.sort() and picking the second last element. However, if the array has duplicates (e.g., [10, 10, 9] ), this method fails because the last two elements are the same. Python Solution (O(N) Approach): Here is the correct Python code that handles duplicates and runs in linear time: Python def get_second_largest ( arr ): # Remove duplicates to avoid errors unique_elements = list (...