kth_largest.py

def largest(items, index):
"""
-create a dictionary where the key=item, value=occurrence of item
-get minimum key in dictionary (smallest element)
-add key to ordered list v times (add element number of times it occurs)
-remove pair from dictionary
-return kth element from ordered list
"""
	d = collections.defaultdict(int)
	order = []
	for item in items:
		d[item] += 1
	while d:
		key = min(d.keys())
		value = d[key]
		order.extend([key] * value)
		d.pop(order[-1])
	return order[k-1]