i have a ~~similar task in my python course.. given 2 text files with similar format, one holding persons and cds they have each, another holding songs and which cds they are on, to answer which songs particular person has, and which persons has particular song. Yeah, a join.
Nothing about O(blah) though, these are way-too specialized / optimizing lands.
that said, coding != thinking..
Some people cannot think of a solution at all, 50% go for 3 loops one-in-another.. copy-pasted 2x2 times, few do the ~~simplest 2 maps with 2-3 funcs.. and once a "master" invented a class with quite a few methods contaning copy-paste inside :/ Probably one can do some analysis over who goes which way and why but i never bothered.
It is also a good ground to show the different ways to add key-value to a map if it's not there - and their pros/cons (one can hook some O(blah) stuff here. i don't. There's just simpler vs faster, with variants).
And yes, having an (subtly) unclear requirement (that should be identified and asked about), is important part of the learning - that's 90% of cases in life.
Nothing about O(blah) though, these are way-too specialized / optimizing lands.
that said, coding != thinking..
Some people cannot think of a solution at all, 50% go for 3 loops one-in-another.. copy-pasted 2x2 times, few do the ~~simplest 2 maps with 2-3 funcs.. and once a "master" invented a class with quite a few methods contaning copy-paste inside :/ Probably one can do some analysis over who goes which way and why but i never bothered.
It is also a good ground to show the different ways to add key-value to a map if it's not there - and their pros/cons (one can hook some O(blah) stuff here. i don't. There's just simpler vs faster, with variants).
And yes, having an (subtly) unclear requirement (that should be identified and asked about), is important part of the learning - that's 90% of cases in life.