一位面试官最近问了我这样一个问题:给定三个布尔变量a、b和c,如果三个变量中至少有两个为真,则返回true。

我的解决方案如下:

boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
    if ((a && b) || (b && c) || (a && c)) {
        return true;
    }
    else{
        return false;
    }
}

他说这还可以进一步改进,但如何改进呢?


当前回答

If the goal is to return a bitwise two-out-of-three value for three operands, arithmetic and iterative approaches are apt to be relatively ineffective. On many CPU architectures, a good form would be "return ((a | b) & c) | (a & b);". That takes four boolean operations. On single-accumulator machines (common in small embedded systems) that's apt to take a total of seven instructions per byte. The form "return (a & b) | (a & c) | (b & c);" is perhaps nicer looking, but it would require five boolean operations, or nine instructions per byte on a single-accumulator machine.

顺便提一下,在CMOS逻辑中,计算“不是三选二”需要12个晶体管(相比之下,逆变器需要2个晶体管,双输入NAND或NOR需要4个晶体管,而三输入NAND或NOR需要6个晶体管)。

其他回答

供你参考,这只是一个完整加法器的执行部分。在硬件中,您可以根据不同的布尔表达式使用逻辑工作来确定最佳电路。我猜传统的异或解决方案要比海报上展示的不那么简洁的表达式花费更多的精力。

下面是一个测试驱动的通用方法。虽然不像目前提供的大多数解决方案那样“高效”,但是清晰、经过测试、有效且通用。

public class CountBooleansTest extends TestCase {
    public void testThreeFalse() throws Exception {
        assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, false, false));
    }

    public void testThreeTrue() throws Exception {
        assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, true, true));
    }

    public void testOnes() throws Exception {
        assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, false, false));
        assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, true, false));
        assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, false, true));
    }

    public void testTwos() throws Exception {
        assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, true, true));
        assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, false, true));
        assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, true, false));
    }

    private static boolean atLeastTwoOutOfThree(boolean b, boolean c, boolean d) {
        return countBooleans(b, c, d) >= 2;
    }

    private static int countBooleans(boolean... bs) {
        int count = 0;
        for (boolean b : bs)
            if (b)
                count++;
        return count;
    }
}

最明显的改进是:

// There is no point in an else if you already returned.
boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
    if ((a && b) || (b && c) || (a && c)) {
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

然后

// There is no point in an if(true) return true otherwise return false.
boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
    return ((a && b) || (b && c) || (a && c));
}

但这些改进都是微不足道的。

总结一下。它被称为布尔代数是有原因的:

  0 x 0 = 0
  1 x 0 = 0
  1 x 1 = 1

  0 + 0 = 0
  1 + 0 = 1
  1 + 1 = 0 (+ carry)

如果你看那里的真值表,你可以看到乘法是布尔和,而简单的加法是异或。

回答你的问题:

return (a + b + c) >= 2

我不喜欢三元(return a ?(b || c):(b && c);从最上面的答案),我想我没有看到任何人提到过它。它是这样写的:

boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
    if (a) {
        return b||c;
    } 
    else {
        return b&&C;
    }