Algorithm for finding min element in a linked list?

Answer 1

In a linked list, there is no way to find the "min element" or any other element with a specific property except by walking through the entire list. Of course, you could store a pointer to the min element and update that each time the list changes (add ing or deleting an element), which makes the list less generic and a tiny bit slower but is worth it if you need this min element often.

Pseudocode for finding the min element (I'm assuming you're storing values and you want the element with the lowest value):

ptr_minelement = null;
ptr_element = ptr_firstelement;
while (ptr_element != null) {
if (ptr_minelement == null) or (ptr_minelement->value > ptr_element->value)
ptr_minelement = ptr_element;
ptr_element = ptr_element->ptr_next;

}