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Array Largest Elements Without Built-ins

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Problem

A Genesys Cloud CX monitoring service receives an array of integer metric values for a completed interval. Return the two largest values without using built-in functions such as max, min, sorted, or sort.

The result must contain the largest value first and the second-largest value second. Values represent individual observations, so duplicates are valid. For example, [8, 8, 3] returns [8, 8]. The algorithm must process the array in one left-to-right pass and use constant extra space.

Formal Specification

Implement find_top_two(nums), where nums is a list of integers. Return a two-element list [largest, second_largest]. Assume the input contains at least two elements. Do not modify the input array.

Constraints

  • 2 <= len(nums) <= 10^6
  • -10^9 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
  • Duplicate values are allowed.
  • The input array must not be modified.
  • Do not use max, min, sorted, sort, or equivalent ordering helpers.
  • Process the array in one left-to-right pass.

Function Signature

def find_top_two(nums):
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