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Add MaximumElement implementation with documentation #7318

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159088d
feat: add MaximumElement implementation with documentation
AbhiramSakha Mar 17, 2026
4f4aa68
fix: align MaximumElement with project standards
AbhiramSakha Mar 17, 2026
cc3d866
Update README.md
AbhiramSakha Apr 2, 2026
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fix: align MaximumElement with project standards
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@AbhiramSakha
AbhiramSakha authored Mar 17, 2026
commit 4f4aa68f3a7eb7b48f502ed2a7c06138dd6c7a9b
16 changes: 10 additions & 6 deletions src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/arrays/MaximumElement.java
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@@ -1,17 +1,21 @@
package com.thealgorithms.arrays;

/**
* This class provides a method to find the maximum element in an array.
* Finds the maximum element in an array.
*/
public class MaximumElement {
public final class MaximumElement {

private MaximumElement() {
// utility class
}

/**
* Finds the maximum value in the given array.
* Returns the maximum element in the array.
*
* @param arr the input array
* @return the maximum element in the array
* @param arr input array
* @return maximum value
*/
public static int findMax(int[] arr) {
public static int max(int[] arr) {
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@singhc7 singhc7 Mar 20, 2026

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While it is always great to see new contributions, there are a few critical edge cases and efficiency improvements needed here for a robust utility class:

  • The method does not validate against null inputs. Passing a null array will throw an unhandled NullPointerException when the enhanced for-loop attempts to execute.
  • If an empty array (new int[0]) is passed, the loop is bypassed entirely and the method returns Integer.MIN_VALUE. Since an empty set technically has no maximum element, returning an arbitrary extreme integer can cause silent downstream bugs. This should throw an IllegalArgumentException instead.
  • Initializing max to Integer.MIN_VALUE relies on a magic constant. A cleaner, more efficient algorithmic standard is to validate the array length, set max = arr[0], and iterate starting from the second element.

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@AbhiramSakha AbhiramSakha Mar 20, 2026

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While it is always great to see new contributions, there are a few critical edge cases and efficiency improvements needed here for a robust utility class:

  • The method does not validate against null inputs. Passing a null array will throw an unhandled NullPointerException when the enhanced for-loop attempts to execute.
  • If an empty array (new int[0]) is passed, the loop is bypassed entirely and the method returns Integer.MIN_VALUE. Since an empty set technically has no maximum element, returning an arbitrary extreme integer can cause silent downstream bugs. This should throw an IllegalArgumentException instead.
  • Initializing max to Integer.MIN_VALUE relies on a magic constant. A cleaner, more efficient algorithmic standard is to validate the array length, set max = arr[0], and iterate starting from the second element.

Update your code like this:

public static int max(int[] arr) {
if (arr == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Input array cannot be null");
}

if (arr.length == 0) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Array must contain at least one element");
}

int max = arr[0];

for (int i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
    if (arr[i] > max) {
        max = arr[i];
    }
}

return max;

}

int max = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

for (int num : arr) {
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