I think the most common way to solve a subset problem is via a map.
package main
import "fmt"
// subset returns true if the first array is completely
// contained in the second array. There must be at least
// the same number of duplicate values in second as there
// are in first.
func subset(first, second []int) bool {
set := make(map[int]int)
for _, value := range second {
set[value] += 1
}
for _, value := range first {
if count, found := set[value]; !found {
return false
} else if count < 1 {
return false
} else {
set[value] = count - 1
}
}
return true
}
func main() {
fmt.Println(subset([]int{1, 2, 3}, []int{1, 2, 3, 4}))
fmt.Println(subset([]int{1, 2, 2}, []int{1, 2, 3, 4}))
}
The ability to check duplicate values is relatively uncommon. The code above solves the problem as asked (see: http://play.golang.org/p/4_7Oh-fgDQ) though. If you plan on having duplicate values, you'll have to keep a count like the code above does. If there will not be duplicate values, you can solve the problem more compactly by using a boolean for the map value instead of an integer.