BestSeller | Topcoder Archive

Problem Statement

After selling goods all day, a salesman would like to determine the most desirable item in his inventory. You are given a String[] items, each element of which represents a single item that was sold during the day. Return the item that was sold the most number of times. In case of a tie, return the item that comes first alphabetically.

Definition

Class:: BestSeller
Method:: findBestSeller
Parameters:: String[]
Returns:: String
Method signature:: String findBestSeller(String[] items)
(be sure your method is public)

Constraints

items will contain between 1 and 50 elements, inclusive.
Each element of items will contain between 1 and 50 characters, inclusive.
Each element of items will contain only lowercase letters ('a'-'z').

Examples

```
{"table", "chair", "table", "table", "lamp", "door", "lamp", "table", "chair"}
```
```
Returns: "table"
```
The salesman sold four "table"s, two "chair"s, two "lamp"s, and one "door". The "table" is his best-selling item.
```
{"a", "a", "a", "b", "b", "b"}
```
```
Returns: "a"
```
There is a tie between "a" and "b", "a" is returned, because it comes first alphabetically.
```
{"icecream", "peanuts", "peanuts", "chocolate", "candy", "chocolate", "icecream", "apple"}
```
```
Returns: "chocolate"
```
The salesman sold two of each of these items: "icecream", "peanuts", and "chocolate". Since there is a tie, "chocolate" is returned because it comes first alphabetically. "apple" comes even earlier, but only tied items are considered.
```
{"soul"}
```
```
Returns: "soul"
```

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