find the smallest node in a linked list in swift

To find the smallest node in a linked list, you need to traverse the list and keep track of the current minimum value. Here's an example implementation in Swift:

main.swift
func findSmallestNode(head: ListNode?) -> ListNode? {
    guard var current = head else { return nil } // empty list
    
    var smallestNode = current
    
    while let next = current.next {
        if next.value < smallestNode.value {
            smallestNode = next
        }
        current = next
    }
    
    return smallestNode
}
341 chars
15 lines

In this implementation, we start by setting the current node to the head of the list. We initialize smallestNode to current, since current is the first node we've seen so far.

We then loop through the list using while let next = current.next. This will continue looping until we reach the end of the list (when current.next is nil).

For each node, we check if its value is less than the value of the current smallestNode. If so, we update smallestNode to be this node.

Finally, we return smallestNode.

Note that this implementation assumes that the ListNode class has a value property and a next property (which points to the next node in the list). You may need to modify it if your implementation of a linked list differs.