mytcat1

gistfile1.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

a = [1,2,3,45,-5,-5,6,5,0,-100, 1, 2, 3, 45, -5, -5, 6, 5, 0, -100, -5, -5, -5, -5, -5, -5,-5, -5, -5, -5]


def foo(myArray, count, isMin):
    # creating unique array
    mySet = set(myArray)

    # if requested count > than number of elements
    # setting count to number of elements
    if count > len(mySet):
        count = len(mySet)

    result = []
    if isMin:
        f = min
    else:
        f = max

    a = map(abs, mySet)
    a.sort()

    for i in range(count):
        v = f(a)
        if v not in mySet:
            v = -1 * v
        result.append(v)
        a.remove(abs(v))

    return result


print foo(a, 2, True)
print foo(a, 4, False)
print foo(a, 40000, False)