#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <cstdlib>
/**
* Returns the maximum distance between two target values in a vector.
*
* Distance is defined as:
* abs(indexA - indexB)
*
* If one or both values do not exist in the vector,
* the function returns -1.
*/
int maxDistanceBetweenValues(const std::vector<int>& nums,
int value1,
int value2)
{
int firstValue1 = -1;
int lastValue1 = -1;
int firstValue2 = -1;
int lastValue2 = -1;
for (size_t i = 0; i < nums.size(); ++i)
{
if (nums[i] == value1) {
if (firstValue1 == -1)
firstValue1 = static_cast<int>(i);
lastValue1 = static_cast<int>(i);
}
if (nums[i] == value2) {
if (firstValue2 == -1)
firstValue2 = static_cast<int>(i);
lastValue2 = static_cast<int>(i);
}
}
// One or both values were not found.
if (firstValue1 == -1 || firstValue2 == -1)
return -1;
return std::max(
std::abs(firstValue1 - lastValue2),
std::abs(firstValue2 - lastValue1)
);
}
int main()
{
std::vector<int> vec = {
2, 3, 7, 3, 3, 4, 8, 8, 8, 11, 9, 1, 3
};
int result = maxDistanceBetweenValues(vec, 3, 8);
std::cout << "Maximum distance: " << result << '\n';
}
/*
run:
Maximum distance: 7
*/
