Given an array that keeps information about Temperature readings for a city, return an array of equal length that tells you, for a given day how many days have passed since a higher temperature occurred.

local_minima_finder_v2.py

# Given an array that keeps information about Temperature readings for a city,
# return an array of equal length that tells you, for a given day
# how many days have passed since a higher temperature occurred

temps =           [7, 3, 4, 6, 9, 1, 5, 6, 3, 7, 4, 8, 2, 10]
expected_output = [1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 1, 2, 3, 1, 5, 1, 7, 1, 14]

def local_minima_finder_v2(temps):
    complexity_counter = 0
    output = [1]
    
    highest = temps[0]
    
    for i, temp in enumerate(temps):
        # Skip the first element as we know the answer is 1 but maintain the correct indices for the remaining elements...
        if i == 0:
            continue
            
        complexity_counter += 1
            
        # if temp is the highest we've seen so far
        # then we know the distance is the current index + 1 or "past the first element"
        # This avoids having to iterate all the way back to the beginning
        if temp > highest:
            output.append(i + 1)
            highest = temp
            continue
        
        # Look backwards, intentionally starting with the current element
        # The current element with never be > itself.
        # Counting it will give us the inclusive behavior we want
        for j in range(i, -1, -1):
            complexity_counter += 1
            
            # If the backwards-counting element is higher than temp then it is the local minimum
            if temps[j] > temp:
                output.append(i - j)
                break
        # A for...else is triggered when the for loop is never broken
        else:
            output.append(i + 1)
    
    print("Element Encounters: {}".format(complexity_counter))
    
    return output

output = local_minima_finder_v2(temps)
print("Expected: {}".format(expected_output))
print("  Actual: {}".format(output))

print("NAILED IT!" if output == expected_output else "NOPE...")