Beginning Java Data Structures and Algorithms

Constant Complexity

The efficiency of constant runtime algorithms remains fixed as we increase the input size. Many examples of these exist. Consider, for example, accessing an element in an array. Access performance doesn't depend on the size of the array, so as we increase the size of the array, the access speed stays constant.

Consider the code in Snippet 1.9. The number of operations performed remains constant, irrespective of the size of the input radius. Such an algorithm is said to have a runtime complexity of O(1). The code snippet is as follows:

private double circleCircumference(int radius) {  return 2.0 * Math.PI * radius;}  

Snippet 1.9: Circle circumference. Source class name: CircleOperations.

Go to https://goo.gl/Rp57PB to access ...