Fluctuating Values in Array Distribution

Question

Fluctuating Values in Array Distribution

I have a set of users and products that I need to distribute, for example:

The number of values in the array can vary each time - it could be one value one time and three values another time.

It is important that each user receives a unique product with no duplicates.

Currently, my code shuffles the array and assigns ten random products to each user:

var users = ["user1", "user2", "user3"];

var products = ["p1", "p2", "p3", "p4", "p5", "p6", "p7", "p8", "p9", "p10","p11", "p12", "p13", "p14", "p15", "p16", "p17", "p18", "p19", "p20", "p21", "p22", "p23", "p24", "p25", "p26", "p27", "p28", "p29", "p30"];

function shuffle(array) {
var currentIndex = array.length, temporaryValue, randomIndex;

while (0 != currentIndex) {

  randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * currentIndex);
  currentIndex -= 1;

  temporaryValue = array[currentIndex];
  array[currentIndex] = array[randomIndex];
  array[randomIndex] = temporaryValue;
}

return array;
}

i = 0;
while (i < users.length) { 
    newArray = (shuffle(products)).slice(0, 10)
    console.log(users[i++] + ' products: ' + newArray);
}

Output:

user1 products: p5,p6,p13,p2,p19,p22,p8,p20,p27,p28
user2 products: p6,p30,p22,p9,p25,p2,p7,p17,p19,p10
user3 products: p20,p25,p23,p4,p28,p9,p12,p14,p21,p17

javascript arrays loops distribution

Answer 1

Answer №1

The challenge presented by this task lies in the balancing act of distributing products to users in a way that ensures some overlap while maintaining fairness and uniqueness. Achieving this efficiently requires additional code.

Here is an outline of the algorithm's approach:

Every product will be allocated at least once;
Roughly 20% of the products will be distributed twice;
No user will receive the same product multiple times;
All users will be assigned almost the same number of products, with a maximum difference of one;
If any users end up with one less product, they are selected randomly;
The sequence in which each user receives their products is randomized.

function shuffled(arr) {
  // Creates a new array without altering the original
  arr = arr.slice();
  var i = arr.length;
  while (i) {
    var j = Math.floor(Math.random() * i--);
    [ arr[i], arr[j] ] = [ arr[j], arr[i] ];
  }
  return arr;
};

function distribute(products, users) {
    // Handling edge cases:
    if (users.length === 0) return {};
    if (users.length === 1) return { [users[0]]: shuffled(products) };    

    // Distributing around 20% of products twice
    var distributeCount = Math.ceil(products.length * 1.2); 
    
    // Structure to store assignments: keys are usernames, 
    //   values are sets of products
    var possessions = users.reduce( (acc, user) => 
        Object.assign(acc, { [user]: new Set() }), {} );

    var usersLeft = shuffled(users);
    while (usersLeft.length < distributeCount)
        usersLeft = usersLeft.concat(usersLeft);
    usersLeft.length = distributeCount;
    
    var productsLeft = shuffled(products).concat(shuffled(products)); 

    // Assigning products to users
    while (usersLeft.length) {
        product = productsLeft.pop();
        user = usersLeft.pop();
        if (possessions[user].has(product)) {
            if (usersLeft.length) {
                [ user, usersLeft[usersLeft.length-1] ] = 
                    [ usersLeft[usersLeft.length-1], user ]; 
            } else {
                do {
                    product = productsLeft.pop();
                    if (!product) throw "Could not find product for user";
                } while (possessions[user].has(product));
            }
        }
        possessions[user].add(product);
    }
    // Converting Sets into Arrays
    for (user in possessions) possessions[user] = [...possessions[user]];
    return possessions;
}

var users = ["user1", "user2", "user3"];
var products = ["p1", "p2", "p3", "p4", "p5", "p6", "p7", "p8", "p9", "p10","p11", 
                "p12", "p13", "p14", "p15", "p16", "p17", "p18", "p19", "p20", "p21", 
                "p22", "p23", "p24", "p25", "p26", "p27", "p28", "p29", "p30"];

var result = distribute(products, users);

console.log(result);

Answer 2

The challenge presented by this task lies in the balancing act of distributing products to users in a way that ensures some overlap while maintaining fairness and uniqueness. Achieving this efficiently requires additional code.

Here is an outline of the algorithm's approach:

Every product will be allocated at least once;
Roughly 20% of the products will be distributed twice;
No user will receive the same product multiple times;
All users will be assigned almost the same number of products, with a maximum difference of one;
If any users end up with one less product, they are selected randomly;
The sequence in which each user receives their products is randomized.

function shuffled(arr) {
  // Creates a new array without altering the original
  arr = arr.slice();
  var i = arr.length;
  while (i) {
    var j = Math.floor(Math.random() * i--);
    [ arr[i], arr[j] ] = [ arr[j], arr[i] ];
  }
  return arr;
};

function distribute(products, users) {
    // Handling edge cases:
    if (users.length === 0) return {};
    if (users.length === 1) return { [users[0]]: shuffled(products) };    

    // Distributing around 20% of products twice
    var distributeCount = Math.ceil(products.length * 1.2); 
    
    // Structure to store assignments: keys are usernames, 
    //   values are sets of products
    var possessions = users.reduce( (acc, user) => 
        Object.assign(acc, { [user]: new Set() }), {} );

    var usersLeft = shuffled(users);
    while (usersLeft.length < distributeCount)
        usersLeft = usersLeft.concat(usersLeft);
    usersLeft.length = distributeCount;
    
    var productsLeft = shuffled(products).concat(shuffled(products)); 

    // Assigning products to users
    while (usersLeft.length) {
        product = productsLeft.pop();
        user = usersLeft.pop();
        if (possessions[user].has(product)) {
            if (usersLeft.length) {
                [ user, usersLeft[usersLeft.length-1] ] = 
                    [ usersLeft[usersLeft.length-1], user ]; 
            } else {
                do {
                    product = productsLeft.pop();
                    if (!product) throw "Could not find product for user";
                } while (possessions[user].has(product));
            }
        }
        possessions[user].add(product);
    }
    // Converting Sets into Arrays
    for (user in possessions) possessions[user] = [...possessions[user]];
    return possessions;
}

var users = ["user1", "user2", "user3"];
var products = ["p1", "p2", "p3", "p4", "p5", "p6", "p7", "p8", "p9", "p10","p11", 
                "p12", "p13", "p14", "p15", "p16", "p17", "p18", "p19", "p20", "p21", 
                "p22", "p23", "p24", "p25", "p26", "p27", "p28", "p29", "p30"];

var result = distribute(products, users);

console.log(result);

Fluctuating Values in Array Distribution

Answer №1

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