Handling 2-3-4 Tree duplicate key insertion

[d4vidsha]

In the pseudocode, add an equality check and return an error if there is an attempt to insert a duplicate key.

It probably makes sense to assume that the keys are unique, as this would be the case in most database applications.

In practice, the most realistic way to deal with this would be to do an equality check and return an error if there is an attempt to insert a duplicate key.

The two options for you as a group at this point would be:

1. Add in an equality check, and return an error if there is an attempt to insert a key that is already in the tree, or
2. Assume there are no duplicates, and we will mention this assumption in the Overview.

The first option Is slightly preferable, but it involves a slight change in the pseudocode, and we are also a bit reluctant to burden you with changes at this late stage. If you’re OK with it, go ahead and do the equality check in the pseudocode and the animation, and send us a copy of the new pseudocode for our records, please. Otherwise, just go with assuming there are no duplicates, and please remind us to augment the Overview.

That is, we need to implement option 1 out of the two options. For context, our group only worked on option 2 due to time limitations. Option 1 will override some features from option 2 (such as the input validation, see below) which is okay to do if it means a successful implementation of option 1.

Context

Currently, the insertion input parameter does validation to ensure no duplicate keys are listed, as seen by the disclaimer Digits should be unique.

Reference

See related email thread for more detailed discussion.