Kth Largest Element

Java

class Solution {
    /*
     * @param k : description of k
     * @param nums : array of nums
     * @return: description of return
     */
    public int kthLargestElement(int k, int[] nums) {
        if (nums == null || nums.length == 0 || k < 1 || k > nums.length){
            return -1;
        }
        return partition(nums, 0, nums.length - 1, nums.length - k);
    }
    
    private int partition(int[] nums, int start, int end, int k) {
        if (start >= end) {
            return nums[k];
        }
        
        int left = start, right = end;
        int pivot = nums[(start + end) / 2];
        
        while (left <= right) {
            while (left <= right && nums[left] < pivot) {
                left++;
            }
            while (left <= right && nums[right] > pivot) {
                right--;
            }
            if (left <= right) {
                swap(nums, left, right);
                left++;
                right--;
            }
        }
        
        if (k <= right) {
            return partition(nums, start, right, k);
        }
        if (k >= left) {
            return partition(nums, left, end, k);
        }
        return nums[k];
    }    
    
    private void swap(int[] nums, int i, int j) {
        int tmp = nums[i];
        nums[i] = nums[j];
        nums[j] = tmp;
    }
}