FindModeInArray()

Step 1: Understand the problem

In a programming problem like finding the mode of an array, the first step is to understand the problem. We're tasked with finding the most frequently occurring element in an array of integers. If there's more than one such element, we'll return one of them.

Step 2: Plan a solution

A good approach to solve this problem would be to keep a count of the number of occurrences of each number in the array. This can be done by creating a HashMap where the key would be the integer from the array and the value would be the count of that integer.

Map<Integer, Integer> countMap = new HashMap<>();

Step 3: Implementing count of numbers

Now, you need to iterate over your array and add every number you see to the HashMap. Update the count every time you encounter a repeated number.

for(int num : nums) {
    countMap.put(num, countMap.getOrDefault(num, 0) + 1);
}

Step 4: Finding the mode

Once you have a count of each number, you need to iterate over the HashMap to find the number with the highest count. That would be the mode.

int maxCount = 0, mode = 0;
for (Map.Entry<Integer, Integer> entry : countMap.entrySet()) {
    if (maxCount < entry.getValue()) {
        maxCount = entry.getValue();
        mode = entry.getKey();
    }
}

Step 5: Full implementation

You have identified the steps needed for solving this problem. Now, let's put them together in a single function.

public int mode(int[] nums) {
    Map<Integer, Integer> countMap = new HashMap<>();
    for(int num : nums) {
        countMap.put(num, countMap.getOrDefault(num, 0) + 1);
    }
    int maxCount = 0, mode = 0;
    for (Map.Entry<Integer, Integer> entry : countMap.entrySet()) {
        if (maxCount < entry.getValue()) {
            maxCount = entry.getValue();
            mode = entry.getKey();
        }
    }
    return mode;
}