package com.thealgorithms.greedyalgorithms;
import java.util.PriorityQueue;
/**
* Class to solve the Optimal File Merging Problem.
* The goal is to minimize the cost of merging files, where the cost of merging two files is the sum of their sizes.
* The cost of merging all files is the sum of the costs of merging each pair of files.
* Example:
* files = [4, 3, 2, 6]
* The minimum cost to merge all files is 29.
* Steps:
* 1. Merge files 2 and 3 (cost = 2 + 3 = 5). New files = [4, 5, 6]
* 2. Merge files 4 and 5 (cost = 4 + 5 = 9). New files = [6, 9]
* 3. Merge files 6 and 9 (cost = 6 + 9 = 15). New files = [15]
* Total cost = 5 + 9 + 15 = 29
*
* @author Hardvan
*/
public final class OptimalFileMerging {
private OptimalFileMerging() {
}
/**
* Calculates the minimum cost to merge all files.
* Steps:
* 1. Add all files to a min heap.
* 2. Remove the two smallest files from the heap, merge them, and add the result back to the heap.
* 3. Repeat step 2 until there is only one file left in the heap.
* 4. The total cost is the sum of all the costs of merging the files.
*
* @param files array of file sizes
* @return the minimum cost to merge the files
*/
public static int minMergeCost(int[] files) {
PriorityQueue<Integer> minHeap = new PriorityQueue<>();
for (int file : files) {
minHeap.add(file);
}
int totalCost = 0;
while (minHeap.size() > 1) {
int first = minHeap.poll();
int second = minHeap.poll();
int cost = first + second;
totalCost += cost;
minHeap.add(cost);
}
return totalCost;
}
}