Scan the array once, keeping the largest value seen so far. The replay highlights when a candidate replaces the running maximum.

Algorithm

Basic Implementation

basic.c
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int arr[] = {3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6};
    int n = (int)(sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]));
    int best = arr[0];
    for (int i = 1; i < n; ++i) {
        if (arr[i] > best) {
            best = arr[i];
        }
    }
    printf("%d\n", best);
    return 0;
}

Complexity

  • Time: O(n)
  • Space: O(1)

Implementation notes

  • Keep the explicit control flow. Library shortcuts would hide the state changes this lesson is meant to replay.
  • The final output is intentionally small and deterministic for cross-language comparison.
execution replay The checked-in replay follows the language-neutral state table for `array-find-max`.
cross-language comparison This C DSA version keeps the same data and final output as every other DSA book in this wave.