Leetcode #1789: Primary Department for Each Employee
In this guide, we solve Leetcode #1789 Primary Department for Each Employee in Python and focus on the core idea that makes the solution efficient.
You will see the intuition, the step-by-step method, and a clean Python implementation you can use in interviews.
Problem Statement
Table: Employee +---------------+---------+ | Column Name | Type | +---------------+---------+ | employee_id | int | | department_id | int | | primary_flag | varchar | +---------------+---------+ (employee_id, department_id) is the primary key (combination of columns with unique values) for this table. employee_id is the id of the employee.
Quick Facts
- Difficulty: Easy
- Premium: No
- Tags: Database
Intuition
The task is relational in nature, which maps cleanly to DataFrame operations in Python.
By treating tables as DataFrames, joins and group-bys become concise and readable.
Approach
Load the inputs as DataFrames and apply the appropriate merge, filter, or group-by.
Select or rename the columns to match the required output.
Steps:
- Load inputs as DataFrames.
- Apply merge/groupby/filter operations.
- Select the output columns.
Example
+---------------+---------+
| Column Name | Type |
+---------------+---------+
| employee_id | int |
| department_id | int |
| primary_flag | varchar |
+---------------+---------+
(employee_id, department_id) is the primary key (combination of columns with unique values) for this table.
employee_id is the id of the employee.
department_id is the id of the department to which the employee belongs.
primary_flag is an ENUM (category) of type ('Y', 'N'). If the flag is 'Y', the department is the primary department for the employee. If the flag is 'N', the department is not the primary.
Python Solution
import duckdb
import pandas as pd
def solution(employee: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.DataFrame:
con = duckdb.connect()
con.register("Employee", employee)
return con.execute("""SELECT employee_id, department_id
FROM Employee
WHERE primary_flag = 'Y'
UNION
SELECT employee_id, department_id
FROM Employee
GROUP BY 1
HAVING COUNT(1) = 1;""").df()
Complexity
The time complexity is O(n log n) (typical). The space complexity is O(n).
Edge Cases and Pitfalls
Watch for boundary values, empty inputs, and duplicate values where applicable. If the problem involves ordering or constraints, confirm the invariant is preserved at every step.
Summary
This Python solution focuses on the essential structure of the problem and keeps the implementation interview-friendly while meeting the constraints.