Coding conventions for Linked Lists

Question

I have been implementing this interview question in Java . A fairly simple problem with an additional constraint of size :

Find the Nth Node from the end of a Linked List where the size of the Linked List is unknown?

I am not concerned with the solution to this problem,because I have already figured that out.

Instead, I want to know whether my implementation maintains the coding conventions which experienced coders maintain while coding a problem related to Linked Lists and it's implementation?.Here is my implementation of the above problem:

import java.io.*;
class NthNodeFromEnd<AnyType>
{
    private Node<AnyType> head;
    private Node<AnyType> pointer;
    private class Node<AnyType>
    {
        protected AnyType item;
        protected Node<AnyType> next;
    }
    void push(AnyType item)
    {
        if(isEmpty())
        {
            head = new Node<AnyType>();
            head.item = item;
            head.next = null;
            pointer = head;
        }
        else
        {
            Node<AnyType> newNode = new Node<AnyType>();
            newNode.item = item;
            newNode.next = null;
            pointer.next = newNode;
            pointer = pointer.next;
        }
    }
    boolean isEmpty()
    {
        return head == null;
    }
    AnyType printNthLastNode(int n)
    {
        Node<AnyType> ptr1 = head;
        Node<AnyType> ptr2 = head;
        for(int i =0;i<n;i++)
        {
            ptr1 = ptr1.next;
        }
        while(ptr1!=null)
        {
            ptr1 = ptr1.next;
            ptr2 = ptr2.next;
        }
        return ptr2.item;
    }
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        NthNodeFromEnd<Integer> obj = new NthNodeFromEnd<Integer>();
        obj.push(1);
        obj.push(2);
        obj.push(3);
        obj.push(4);
        obj.push(5);
        obj.push(6);
        obj.push(7);
        System.out.println("The nth item is = "+obj.printNthLastNode(5));
    }
}

P.S. - I am aware of the fact that there is an inbuilt implementation of Linked List in Java, but I don't want to use that.I want to know whether this implementation of the problem is good enough or is there a better way to tackle Linked List related problems?

Answer 1

Regarding the code conventions:

• generic types are typically defined as a single uppercase letter: E or T, but not AnyType, which looks like a concrete type.
• operators should be surrounded by spaces, semi-colons followed by a space, etc. For example, for(int i =0;i<n;i++) should be for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
• A method printNthLastNode() should print the nth last node, not return it. A method returning it should be named getNthLastNode() or findNthLastNode(). BTW, this method doesn't return a node, but a value stored in the list.
• methods should generally not be package-private. They should be public or private generally.
• the usual convention in Java is to have opening curly braces at the end of the line, and not at the beginning of the next line.
• your method printNthLastNode() will fail with a NPE if the list is empty or not large enough. A better exception type should be used to signal this problem.
• the class should not import java.io.*, since it doesn't use any class from java.io. packages should generally not be imported. Classes should.
• String[] args is more readable than String args[], and is more conventional.
• the Node class should be static: it doesn't use any instance member of its enclosing type.

That said, the interviewer should see, with the code posted, that you understand how a linked list works and how pointers work, as well as generic types.