Longest string in a list | Kuchup interview prep

The 30 second answer

I use max with a comparator on string length, which returns an Optional. On ties max keeps one of them with no promise which; if they want the first longest string I use a reduce that only replaces when the new length is strictly greater.

Optional<String> longest = words.stream()
    .max(Comparator.comparingInt(String::length));

Ties: max returns one of them; the Javadoc does not promise which. To keep the first: reduce((a, b) -> b.length() > a.length() ? b : a). [Opinion]

Sources:

Stream.max / reduce
Comparator

Sources (0)

See inline citations in the answer above.