Find Kth from Tail
by Isai Damier, Android Engineer @ Google

/***************************************************************************
 * Author: Isai Damier
 * Title: Singly Linked List
 * Project: geekviewpoint
 * Package: datastructure
 *
 * Description: A LinkedList is a data structure that allows access
 *   to a collection of data using pointers/references. While an
 *   array can also be defined as above, LinkedLists and arrays differ
 *   in how they are stored in memory and in the operations they
 *   allow. Unlike an array that must be stored in a block of memory,
 *   the nodes of a LinkedList can be stored anywhere because each
 *   node has a reference to the node that succeeds it. Because the
 *   nodes are stored so loosely, inserting nodes into a LinkedList
 *   is easy; whereas in an array, all the succeeding elements must
 *   be shifted. Of course, insertion also means changing the size of
 *   the array, which means creating the entire array anew.
 *
 *   Perhaps the greatest beauty of LinkedList is that it allows
 *   accessing an entire sequence of nodes using only one variable:
 *   a reference to the first node in the sequence.
 *
 *   Countless operations can be performed on LinkedLists. Following
 *   are a few, ranging from the common to the very interesting.
 **************************************************************************/ 
 public class SinglyLinkedList {

  Node head = null;
  Node tail = null;

  /*****************************************************************
   * Statement:
   *   Retrieve the node that is k units from the tail.
   *
   * Time Complexity of Solution:
   *   Best = O(1); Worst = O(n).
   *
   * Technical Details: The imagery is to get a poll, k units long.
   *   Place the poll along the LinkedList so that one end
   *   (labeled X) of the poll is by the head node and one end
   *   (labeled Y) is by some other node called tmp. Now slide the
   *   poll along the LinkedList, until the end labeled Y reaches
   *   the tail. At this point, return the node by X.
   *****************************************************************/
  public Node findKthFromTail(int k) {
    if (0 > k) {
      return null;
    }
    //count k units from the head.
    Node tmp = head;
    int count = 0;
    while (count < k && null != tmp) {
      tmp = tmp.next;
      count++;
    }
    //if the LinkedList does not contain k elements, return null
    if (count < k || null == tmp) {
      return null;
    }

    //keeping tab on the kth element from tmp, slide tmp until
    //tmp equals tail. Then return the kth element.
    Node kth = head;
    while (null != tmp.next) {
      tmp = tmp.next;
      kth = kth.next;
    }
    return kth;
  }
}
public class SinglyLinkedListTest {

  /**
   * Test of findKthFromTail method, of class SinglyLinkedList.
   */
  @Test
  public void testFindKthFromTail() {
    System.out.println("findKthFromTail");
    int[] input = {9, 4, 5, 2, 1, 12, 6, 7, 4, 8, 3, 0, 16, 19, 11};
    SinglyLinkedList linkedList = new SinglyLinkedList();
    for (int i = 0; i < input.length; i++) {
      linkedList.addToTail(input[i]);
    }
    int k = 0;
    int last = input.length - 1;
    assertEquals(input[last - k], linkedList.findKthFromTail(k).data);
    k = last / 2;
    assertEquals(input[last - k], linkedList.findKthFromTail(k).data);
    k = last;
    assertEquals(input[last - k], linkedList.findKthFromTail(k).data);
    k = last + 21;
    assertEquals(null, linkedList.findKthFromTail(k));
    k = -1;
    assertEquals(null, linkedList.findKthFromTail(k));
  }
}