[algorithm] How to determine the longest increasing subsequence using dynamic programming?

I have a set of integers. I want to find the longest increasing subsequence of that set using dynamic programming.

Here are three steps of evaluating the problem from dynamic programming point of view:

1. Recurrence definition: maxLength(i) == 1 + maxLength(j) where 0 < j < i and array[i] > array[j]
2. Recurrence parameter boundary: there might be 0 to i - 1 sub-sequences passed as a paramter
3. Evaluation order: as it is increasing sub-sequence, it has to be evaluated from 0 to n

If we take as an example sequence {0, 8, 2, 3, 7, 9}, at index:

• [0] we'll get subsequence {0} as a base case
• [1] we have 1 new subsequence {0, 8}
• [2] trying to evaluate two new sequences {0, 8, 2} and {0, 2} by adding element at index 2 to existing sub-sequences - only one is valid, so adding third possible sequence {0, 2} only to parameters list ...

Here's the working C++11 code:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

int getLongestIncSub(const std::vector<int> &sequence, size_t index, std::vector<std::vector<int>> &sub) {
    if(index == 0) {
        sub.push_back(std::vector<int>{sequence[0]});
        return 1;
    }

    size_t longestSubSeq = getLongestIncSub(sequence, index - 1, sub);
    std::vector<std::vector<int>> tmpSubSeq;
    for(std::vector<int> &subSeq : sub) {
        if(subSeq[subSeq.size() - 1] < sequence[index]) {
            std::vector<int> newSeq(subSeq);
            newSeq.push_back(sequence[index]);
            longestSubSeq = std::max(longestSubSeq, newSeq.size());
            tmpSubSeq.push_back(newSeq);
        }
    }
    std::copy(tmpSubSeq.begin(), tmpSubSeq.end(),
              std::back_insert_iterator<std::vector<std::vector<int>>>(sub));

    return longestSubSeq;
}

int getLongestIncSub(const std::vector<int> &sequence) {
    std::vector<std::vector<int>> sub;
    return getLongestIncSub(sequence, sequence.size() - 1, sub);
}

int main()
{
    std::vector<int> seq{0, 8, 2, 3, 7, 9};
    std::cout << getLongestIncSub(seq);
    return 0;
}

Here is a Scala implementation of the O(n^2) algorithm:

object Solve {
  def longestIncrSubseq[T](xs: List[T])(implicit ord: Ordering[T]) = {
    xs.foldLeft(List[(Int, List[T])]()) {
      (sofar, x) =>
        if (sofar.isEmpty) List((1, List(x)))
        else {
          val resIfEndsAtCurr = (sofar, xs).zipped map {
            (tp, y) =>
              val len = tp._1
              val seq = tp._2
              if (ord.lteq(y, x)) {
                (len + 1, x :: seq) // reversely recorded to avoid O(n)
              } else {
                (1, List(x))
              }
          }
          sofar :+ resIfEndsAtCurr.maxBy(_._1)
        }
    }.maxBy(_._1)._2.reverse
  }

  def main(args: Array[String]) = {
    println(longestIncrSubseq(List(
      0, 8, 4, 12, 2, 10, 6, 14, 1, 9, 5, 13, 3, 11, 7, 15)))
  }
}

This can be solved in O(n^2) using Dynamic Programming. Python code for the same would be like:-

def LIS(numlist):
    LS = [1]
    for i in range(1, len(numlist)):
        LS.append(1)
        for j in range(0, i):
            if numlist[i] > numlist[j] and LS[i]<=LS[j]:
                LS[i] = 1 + LS[j]
    print LS
    return max(LS)

numlist = map(int, raw_input().split(' '))
print LIS(numlist)

For input:5 19 5 81 50 28 29 1 83 23

output would be:[1, 2, 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 1, 5, 3] 5

The list_index of output list is the list_index of input list. The value at a given list_index in output list denotes the Longest increasing subsequence length for that list_index.

The O(NLog(N)) Recursive DP Approach To Finding the Longest Increasing Subsequence (LIS)

Explanation

This algorithm involves creating a tree with node format as (a,b).

a represents the next element we are considering appending to the valid subsequence so far.

b represents the starting index of the remaining subarray that the next decision will be made from if a gets appended to the end of the subarray we have so far.

Algorithm

1. We start with an invalid root (INT_MIN,0), pointing at index zero of the array since subsequence is empty at this point, i.e. b = 0.

2. Base Case: return 1 if b >= array.length.

3. Loop through all the elements in the array from the b index to the end of the array, i.e i = b ... array.length-1. i) If an element, array[i] is greater than the current a, it is qualified to be considered as one of the elements to be appended to the subsequence we have so far. ii) Recurse into the node (array[i],b+1), where a is the element we encountered in 2(i) which is qualified to be appended to the subsequence we have so far. And b+1 is the next index of the array to be considered. iii) Return the max length obtained by looping through i = b ... array.length. In a case where a is bigger than any other element from i = b to array.length, return 1.

4. Compute the level of the tree built as level. Finally, level - 1 is the desired LIS. That is the number of edges in the longest path of the tree.

NB: The memorization part of the algorithm is left out since it's clear from the tree.

Random Example Nodes marked x are fetched from the DB memoized values.

Java Implementation

public int lengthOfLIS(int[] nums) {
            return LIS(nums,Integer.MIN_VALUE, 0,new HashMap<>()) -1;
    }
    public int LIS(int[] arr, int value, int nextIndex, Map<String,Integer> memo){
        if(memo.containsKey(value+","+nextIndex))return memo.get(value+","+nextIndex);
        if(nextIndex >= arr.length)return 1;

        int max = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
        for(int i=nextIndex; i<arr.length; i++){
            if(arr[i] > value){
                max = Math.max(max,LIS(arr,arr[i],i+1,memo));
            }
        }
        if(max == Integer.MIN_VALUE)return 1;
        max++;
        memo.put(value+","+nextIndex,max);
        return max;
    }

I have implemented LIS in java using Dynamic Programming and Memoization. Along with the code I have done complexity calculation i.e. why it is O(n Log(base2) n). As I feel theoretical or logical explanations are good but practical demonstration is always better for understanding.

package com.company.dynamicProgramming;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class LongestIncreasingSequence {

    static int complexity = 0;

    public static void main(String ...args){


        int[] arr = {10, 22, 9, 33, 21, 50, 41, 60, 80};
        int n = arr.length;

        Map<Integer, Integer> memo = new HashMap<>();

        lis(arr, n, memo);

        //Display Code Begins
        int x = 0;
        System.out.format("Longest Increasing Sub-Sequence with size %S is -> ",memo.get(n));
        for(Map.Entry e : memo.entrySet()){

            if((Integer)e.getValue() > x){
                System.out.print(arr[(Integer)e.getKey()-1] + " ");
                x++;
            }
        }
        System.out.format("%nAnd Time Complexity for Array size %S is just %S ", arr.length, complexity );
        System.out.format( "%nWhich is equivalent to O(n Log n) i.e. %SLog(base2)%S is %S",arr.length,arr.length, arr.length * Math.ceil(Math.log(arr.length)/Math.log(2)));
        //Display Code Ends

    }



    static int lis(int[] arr, int n, Map<Integer, Integer> memo){

        if(n==1){
            memo.put(1, 1);
            return 1;
        }

        int lisAti;
        int lisAtn = 1;

        for(int i = 1; i < n; i++){
            complexity++;

            if(memo.get(i)!=null){
                lisAti = memo.get(i);
            }else {
                lisAti = lis(arr, i, memo);
            }

            if(arr[i-1] < arr[n-1] && lisAti +1 > lisAtn){
                lisAtn = lisAti +1;
            }
        }

        memo.put(n, lisAtn);
        return lisAtn;

    }
}

While I ran the above code -

Longest Increasing Sub-Sequence with size 6 is -> 10 22 33 50 60 80 
And Time Complexity for Array size 9 is just 36 
Which is equivalent to O(n Log n) i.e. 9Log(base2)9 is 36.0
Process finished with exit code 0

def longestincrsub(arr1):
    n=len(arr1)
    l=[1]*n
    for i in range(0,n):
        for j in range(0,i)  :
            if arr1[j]<arr1[i] and l[i]<l[j] + 1:
                l[i] =l[j] + 1
    l.sort()
    return l[-1]
arr1=[10,22,9,33,21,50,41,60]
a=longestincrsub(arr1)
print(a)

even though there is a way by which you can solve this in O(nlogn) time(this solves in O(n^2) time) but still this way gives the dynamic programming approach which is also good .

The following C++ implementation includes also some code that builds the actual longest increasing subsequence using an array called prev.

std::vector<int> longest_increasing_subsequence (const std::vector<int>& s)
{
    int best_end = 0;
    int sz = s.size();

    if (!sz)
        return std::vector<int>();

    std::vector<int> prev(sz,-1);
    std::vector<int> memo(sz, 0);

    int max_length = std::numeric_limits<int>::min();

    memo[0] = 1;

    for ( auto i = 1; i < sz; ++i)
    {
        for ( auto j = 0; j < i; ++j)
        {
            if ( s[j] < s[i] && memo[i] < memo[j] + 1 )
            {
                memo[i] =  memo[j] + 1;
                prev[i] =  j;
            }
        }

        if ( memo[i] > max_length ) 
        {
            best_end = i;
            max_length = memo[i];
        }
    }

    // Code that builds the longest increasing subsequence using "prev"
    std::vector<int> results;
    results.reserve(sz);

    std::stack<int> stk;
    int current = best_end;

    while (current != -1)
    {
        stk.push(s[current]);
        current = prev[current];
    }

    while (!stk.empty())
    {
        results.push_back(stk.top());
        stk.pop();
    }

    return results;
}

Implementation with no stack just reverse the vector

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <limits>
std::vector<int> LIS( const std::vector<int> &v ) {
  auto sz = v.size();
  if(!sz)
    return v;
  std::vector<int> memo(sz, 0);
  std::vector<int> prev(sz, -1);
  memo[0] = 1;
  int best_end = 0;
  int max_length = std::numeric_limits<int>::min();
  for (auto i = 1; i < sz; ++i) {
    for ( auto j = 0; j < i ; ++j) {
      if (s[j] < s[i] && memo[i] < memo[j] + 1) {
        memo[i] = memo[j] + 1;
        prev[i] = j;
      }
    }
    if(memo[i] > max_length) {
      best_end = i;
      max_length = memo[i];
    }
  }

  // create results
  std::vector<int> results;
  results.reserve(v.size());
  auto current = best_end;
  while (current != -1) {
    results.push_back(s[current]);
    current = prev[current];
  }
  std::reverse(results.begin(), results.end());
  return results;
}

Speaking about DP solution, I found it surprising that no one mentioned the fact that LIS can be reduced to LCS. All you need to do is sort the copy of the original sequence, remove all the duplicates and do LCS of them. In pseudocode it is:

def LIS(S):
    T = sort(S)
    T = removeDuplicates(T)
    return LCS(S, T)

And the full implementation written in Go. You do not need to maintain the whole n^2 DP matrix if you do not need to reconstruct the solution.

func lcs(arr1 []int) int {
    arr2 := make([]int, len(arr1))
    for i, v := range arr1 {
        arr2[i] = v
    }
    sort.Ints(arr1)
    arr3 := []int{}
    prev := arr1[0] - 1
    for _, v := range arr1 {
        if v != prev {
            prev = v
            arr3 = append(arr3, v)
        }
    }

    n1, n2 := len(arr1), len(arr3)

    M := make([][]int, n2 + 1)
    e := make([]int, (n1 + 1) * (n2 + 1))
    for i := range M {
        M[i] = e[i * (n1 + 1):(i + 1) * (n1 + 1)]
    }

    for i := 1; i <= n2; i++ {
        for j := 1; j <= n1; j++ {
            if arr2[j - 1] == arr3[i - 1] {
                M[i][j] = M[i - 1][j - 1] + 1
            } else if M[i - 1][j] > M[i][j - 1] {
                M[i][j] = M[i - 1][j]
            } else {
                M[i][j] = M[i][j - 1]
            }
        }
    }

    return M[n2][n1]
}

Longest Increasing Subsequence(Java)

import java.util.*;

class ChainHighestValue implements Comparable<ChainHighestValue>{
    int highestValue;
    int chainLength;
    ChainHighestValue(int highestValue,int chainLength) {
        this.highestValue = highestValue;
        this.chainLength = chainLength;
    }
    @Override
    public int compareTo(ChainHighestValue o) {
       return this.chainLength-o.chainLength;
    }

}


public class LongestIncreasingSubsequenceLinkedList {


    private static LinkedList<Integer> LongestSubsequent(int arr[], int size){
        ArrayList<LinkedList<Integer>> seqList=new ArrayList<>();
        ArrayList<ChainHighestValue> valuePairs=new ArrayList<>();
        for(int i=0;i<size;i++){
            int currValue=arr[i];
            if(valuePairs.size()==0){
                LinkedList<Integer> aList=new LinkedList<>();
                aList.add(arr[i]);
                seqList.add(aList);
                valuePairs.add(new ChainHighestValue(arr[i],1));

            }else{
                try{
                    ChainHighestValue heighestIndex=valuePairs.stream().filter(e->e.highestValue<currValue).max(ChainHighestValue::compareTo).get();
                    int index=valuePairs.indexOf(heighestIndex);
                    seqList.get(index).add(arr[i]);
                    heighestIndex.highestValue=arr[i];
                    heighestIndex.chainLength+=1;

                }catch (Exception e){
                    LinkedList<Integer> aList=new LinkedList<>();
                    aList.add(arr[i]);
                    seqList.add(aList);
                    valuePairs.add(new ChainHighestValue(arr[i],1));
                }
            }
        }
        ChainHighestValue heighestIndex=valuePairs.stream().max(ChainHighestValue::compareTo).get();
        int index=valuePairs.indexOf(heighestIndex);
        return seqList.get(index);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int arry[]={5,1,3,6,11,30,32,5,3,73,79};
        //int arryB[]={3,1,5,2,6,4,9};
        LinkedList<Integer> LIS=LongestSubsequent(arry, arry.length);
        System.out.println("Longest Incrementing Subsequence:");
        for(Integer a: LIS){
            System.out.print(a+" ");
        }

    }
}

O(n^2) java implementation:

void LIS(int arr[]){
        int maxCount[]=new int[arr.length];
        int link[]=new int[arr.length];
        int maxI=0;
        link[0]=0;
        maxCount[0]=0;

        for (int i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < i; j++) {
                if(arr[j]<arr[i] && ((maxCount[j]+1)>maxCount[i])){
                    maxCount[i]=maxCount[j]+1;
                    link[i]=j;
                    if(maxCount[i]>maxCount[maxI]){
                        maxI=i;
                    }
                }
            }
        }


        for (int i = 0; i < link.length; i++) {
            System.out.println(arr[i]+"   "+link[i]);
        }
        print(arr,maxI,link);

    }

    void print(int arr[],int index,int link[]){
        if(link[index]==index){
            System.out.println(arr[index]+" ");
            return;
        }else{
            print(arr, link[index], link);
            System.out.println(arr[index]+" ");
        }
    }

Here's another O(n^2) JAVA implementation. No recursion/memoization to generate the actual subsequence. Just a string array that stores the actual LIS at every stage and an array to store the length of the LIS for each element. Pretty darn easy. Have a look:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

/**
 * Created by Shreyans on 4/16/2015
 */

class LNG_INC_SUB//Longest Increasing Subsequence
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
        System.out.println("Enter Numbers Separated by Spaces to find their LIS\n");
        String[] s1=br.readLine().split(" ");
        int n=s1.length;
        int[] a=new int[n];//Array actual of Numbers
        String []ls=new String[n];// Array of Strings to maintain LIS for every element
        for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
        {
            a[i]=Integer.parseInt(s1[i]);
        }
        int[]dp=new int[n];//Storing length of max subseq.
        int max=dp[0]=1;//Defaults
        String seq=ls[0]=s1[0];//Defaults
        for(int i=1;i<n;i++)
        {
            dp[i]=1;
            String x="";
            for(int j=i-1;j>=0;j--)
            {
                //First check if number at index j is less than num at i.
                // Second the length of that DP should be greater than dp[i]
                // -1 since dp of previous could also be one. So we compare the dp[i] as empty initially
                if(a[j]<a[i]&&dp[j]>dp[i]-1)
                {
                    dp[i]=dp[j]+1;//Assigning temp length of LIS. There may come along a bigger LIS of a future a[j]
                    x=ls[j];//Assigning temp LIS of a[j]. Will append a[i] later on
                }
            }
            x+=(" "+a[i]);
            ls[i]=x;
            if(dp[i]>max)
            {
                max=dp[i];
                seq=ls[i];
            }
        }
        System.out.println("Length of LIS is: " + max + "\nThe Sequence is: " + seq);
    }
}

Code in action: http://ideone.com/sBiOQx

Here is my Leetcode solution using Binary Search:->

class Solution:
    def binary_search(self,s,x):
        low=0
        high=len(s)-1
        flag=1
        while low<=high:
              mid=(high+low)//2
              if s[mid]==x:
                 flag=0
                 break
              elif s[mid]<x:
                  low=mid+1
              else:
                 high=mid-1
        if flag:
           s[low]=x
        return s

    def lengthOfLIS(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
         if not nums:
            return 0
         s=[]
         s.append(nums[0])
         for i in range(1,len(nums)):
             if s[-1]<nums[i]:
                s.append(nums[i])
             else:
                 s=self.binary_search(s,nums[i])
         return len(s)

The O(NLog(N)) Approach To Find Longest Increasing Sub sequence
Let us maintain an array where the ith element is the smallest possible number with which a i sized sub sequence can end.

On purpose I am avoiding further details as the top voted answer already explains it, but this technique eventually leads to a neat implementation using the set data structure (at least in c++).

Here is the implementation in c++ (assuming strictly increasing longest sub sequence size is required)

#include <bits/stdc++.h> // gcc supported header to include (almost) everything
using namespace std;
typedef long long ll;

int main()
{
  ll n;
  cin >> n;
  ll arr[n];
  set<ll> S;

  for(ll i=0; i<n; i++)
  {
    cin >> arr[i];
    auto it = S.lower_bound(arr[i]);
    if(it != S.end())
      S.erase(it);
    S.insert(arr[i]);
  }

  cout << S.size() << endl; // Size of the set is the required answer

  return 0;
}

This can be solved in O(n^2) using dynamic programming.

Process the input elements in order and maintain a list of tuples for each element. Each tuple (A,B), for the element i will denotes, A = length of longest increasing sub-sequence ending at i and B = index of predecessor of list[i] in the longest increasing sub-sequence ending at list[i].

Start from element 1, the list of tuple for element 1 will be [(1,0)] for element i, scan the list 0..i and find element list[k] such that list[k] < list[i], the value of A for element i, Ai will be Ak + 1 and Bi will be k. If there are multiple such elements, add them to the list of tuples for element i.

In the end, find all the elements with max value of A (length of LIS ending at element) and backtrack using the tuples to get the list.

I have shared the code for same at http://www.edufyme.com/code/?id=66f041e16a60928b05a7e228a89c3799

checkout the code in java for longest increasing subsequence with the array elements

http://ideone.com/Nd2eba

/**
 **    Java Program to implement Longest Increasing Subsequence Algorithm
 **/

import java.util.Scanner;

/** Class  LongestIncreasingSubsequence **/
 class  LongestIncreasingSubsequence
{
    /** function lis **/
    public int[] lis(int[] X)
    {        
        int n = X.length - 1;
        int[] M = new int[n + 1];  
        int[] P = new int[n + 1]; 
        int L = 0;

        for (int i = 1; i < n + 1; i++)
        {
            int j = 0;

            /** Linear search applied here. Binary Search can be applied too.
                binary search for the largest positive j <= L such that 
                X[M[j]] < X[i] (or set j = 0 if no such value exists) **/

            for (int pos = L ; pos >= 1; pos--)
            {
                if (X[M[pos]] < X[i])
                {
                    j = pos;
                    break;
                }
            }            
            P[i] = M[j];
            if (j == L || X[i] < X[M[j + 1]])
            {
                M[j + 1] = i;
                L = Math.max(L,j + 1);
            }
        }

        /** backtrack **/

        int[] result = new int[L];
        int pos = M[L];
        for (int i = L - 1; i >= 0; i--)
        {
            result[i] = X[pos];
            pos = P[pos];
        }
        return result;             
    }

    /** Main Function **/
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {    
        Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.println("Longest Increasing Subsequence Algorithm Test\n");

        System.out.println("Enter number of elements");
        int n = scan.nextInt();
        int[] arr = new int[n + 1];
        System.out.println("\nEnter "+ n +" elements");
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
            arr[i] = scan.nextInt();

        LongestIncreasingSubsequence obj = new LongestIncreasingSubsequence(); 
        int[] result = obj.lis(arr);       

        /** print result **/ 

        System.out.print("\nLongest Increasing Subsequence : ");
        for (int i = 0; i < result.length; i++)
            System.out.print(result[i] +" ");
        System.out.println();
    }
}

Simplest LIS solution in C++ with O(nlog(n)) time complexity

#include <iostream>
#include "vector"
using namespace std;

// binary search (If value not found then it will return the index where the value should be inserted)
int ceilBinarySearch(vector<int> &a,int beg,int end,int value)
{
    if(beg<=end)
    {
        int mid = (beg+end)/2;
        if(a[mid] == value)
            return mid;
        else if(value < a[mid])
            return ceilBinarySearch(a,beg,mid-1,value);
        else
            return ceilBinarySearch(a,mid+1,end,value);

    return 0;
    }

    return beg;

}
int lis(vector<int> arr)
{
    vector<int> dp(arr.size(),0);
    int len = 0;
    for(int i = 0;i<arr.size();i++)
    {
        int j = ceilBinarySearch(dp,0,len-1,arr[i]);
        dp[j] = arr[i];
        if(j == len)
            len++;

    }
    return len;
}

int main()
{
    vector<int> arr  {2, 5,-1,0,6,1,2};
    cout<<lis(arr);
    return 0;
}

OUTPUT:
4

Petar Minchev's explanation helped clear things up for me, but it was hard for me to parse what everything was, so I made a Python implementation with overly-descriptive variable names and lots of comments. I did a naive recursive solution, the O(n^2) solution, and the O(n log n) solution.

I hope it helps clear up the algorithms!

The Recursive Solution

def recursive_solution(remaining_sequence, bigger_than=None):
    """Finds the longest increasing subsequence of remaining_sequence that is      
    bigger than bigger_than and returns it.  This solution is O(2^n)."""

    # Base case: nothing is remaining.                                             
    if len(remaining_sequence) == 0:
        return remaining_sequence

    # Recursive case 1: exclude the current element and process the remaining.     
    best_sequence = recursive_solution(remaining_sequence[1:], bigger_than)

    # Recursive case 2: include the current element if it's big enough.            
    first = remaining_sequence[0]

    if (first > bigger_than) or (bigger_than is None):

        sequence_with = [first] + recursive_solution(remaining_sequence[1:], first)

        # Choose whichever of case 1 and case 2 were longer.                         
        if len(sequence_with) >= len(best_sequence):
            best_sequence = sequence_with

    return best_sequence                                                        

The O(n^2) Dynamic Programming Solution

def dynamic_programming_solution(sequence):
    """Finds the longest increasing subsequence in sequence using dynamic          
    programming.  This solution is O(n^2)."""

    longest_subsequence_ending_with = []
    backreference_for_subsequence_ending_with = []
    current_best_end = 0

    for curr_elem in range(len(sequence)):
        # It's always possible to have a subsequence of length 1.                    
        longest_subsequence_ending_with.append(1)

        # If a subsequence is length 1, it doesn't have a backreference.             
        backreference_for_subsequence_ending_with.append(None)

        for prev_elem in range(curr_elem):
            subsequence_length_through_prev = (longest_subsequence_ending_with[prev_elem] + 1)

            # If the prev_elem is smaller than the current elem (so it's increasing)   
            # And if the longest subsequence from prev_elem would yield a better       
            # subsequence for curr_elem.                                               
            if ((sequence[prev_elem] < sequence[curr_elem]) and
                    (subsequence_length_through_prev >
                         longest_subsequence_ending_with[curr_elem])):

                # Set the candidate best subsequence at curr_elem to go through prev.    
                longest_subsequence_ending_with[curr_elem] = (subsequence_length_through_prev)
                backreference_for_subsequence_ending_with[curr_elem] = prev_elem
                # If the new end is the best, update the best.    

        if (longest_subsequence_ending_with[curr_elem] >
                longest_subsequence_ending_with[current_best_end]):
            current_best_end = curr_elem
            # Output the overall best by following the backreferences.  

    best_subsequence = []
    current_backreference = current_best_end

    while current_backreference is not None:
        best_subsequence.append(sequence[current_backreference])
        current_backreference = (backreference_for_subsequence_ending_with[current_backreference])

    best_subsequence.reverse()

    return best_subsequence                                                   

The O(n log n) Dynamic Programming Solution

def find_smallest_elem_as_big_as(sequence, subsequence, elem):
    """Returns the index of the smallest element in subsequence as big as          
    sequence[elem].  sequence[elem] must not be larger than every element in       
    subsequence.  The elements in subsequence are indices in sequence.  Uses       
    binary search."""

    low = 0
    high = len(subsequence) - 1

    while high > low:
        mid = (high + low) / 2
        # If the current element is not as big as elem, throw out the low half of    
        # sequence.                                                                  
        if sequence[subsequence[mid]] < sequence[elem]:
            low = mid + 1
            # If the current element is as big as elem, throw out everything bigger, but 
        # keep the current element.                                                  
        else:
            high = mid

    return high


def optimized_dynamic_programming_solution(sequence):
    """Finds the longest increasing subsequence in sequence using dynamic          
    programming and binary search (per                                             
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_increasing_subsequence).  This solution   
    is O(n log n)."""

    # Both of these lists hold the indices of elements in sequence and not the        
    # elements themselves.                                                         
    # This list will always be sorted.                                             
    smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length = []

    # This array goes along with sequence (not                                     
    # smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length).  Following the corresponding element 
    # in this array repeatedly will generate the desired subsequence.              
    parent = [None for _ in sequence]

    for elem in range(len(sequence)):
        # We're iterating through sequence in order, so if elem is bigger than the   
        # end of longest current subsequence, we have a new longest increasing          
        # subsequence.                                                               
        if (len(smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length) == 0 or
                    sequence[elem] > sequence[smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length[-1]]):
            # If we are adding the first element, it has no parent.  Otherwise, we        
            # need to update the parent to be the previous biggest element.            
            if len(smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length) > 0:
                parent[elem] = smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length[-1]
            smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length.append(elem)
        else:
            # If we can't make a longer subsequence, we might be able to make a        
            # subsequence of equal size to one of our earlier subsequences with a         
            # smaller ending number (which makes it easier to find a later number that 
            # is increasing).                                                          
            # Thus, we look for the smallest element in                                
            # smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length that is at least as big as elem       
            # and replace it with elem.                                                
            # This preserves correctness because if there is a subsequence of length n 
            # that ends with a number smaller than elem, we could add elem on to the   
            # end of that subsequence to get a subsequence of length n+1.              
            location_to_replace = find_smallest_elem_as_big_as(sequence, smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length, elem)
            smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length[location_to_replace] = elem
            # If we're replacing the first element, we don't need to update its parent 
            # because a subsequence of length 1 has no parent.  Otherwise, its parent  
            # is the subsequence one shorter, which we just added onto.                
            if location_to_replace != 0:
                parent[elem] = (smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length[location_to_replace - 1])

    # Generate the longest increasing subsequence by backtracking through parent.  
    curr_parent = smallest_end_to_subsequence_of_length[-1]
    longest_increasing_subsequence = []

    while curr_parent is not None:
        longest_increasing_subsequence.append(sequence[curr_parent])
        curr_parent = parent[curr_parent]

    longest_increasing_subsequence.reverse()

    return longest_increasing_subsequence         

This is a Java implementation in O(n^2). I just did not use Binary Search to find the smallest element in S, which is >= than X. I just used a for loop. Using Binary Search would make the complexity at O(n logn)

public static void olis(int[] seq){

    int[] memo = new int[seq.length];

    memo[0] = seq[0];
    int pos = 0;

    for (int i=1; i<seq.length; i++){

        int x = seq[i];

            if (memo[pos] < x){ 
                pos++;
                memo[pos] = x;
            } else {

                for(int j=0; j<=pos; j++){
                    if (memo[j] >= x){
                        memo[j] = x;
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }
            //just to print every step
            System.out.println(Arrays.toString(memo));
    }

    //the final array with the LIS
    System.out.println(Arrays.toString(memo));
    System.out.println("The length of lis is " + (pos + 1));

}

here is java O(nlogn) implementation

import java.util.Scanner;

public class LongestIncreasingSeq {


    private static int binarySearch(int table[],int a,int len){

        int end = len-1;
        int beg = 0;
        int mid = 0;
        int result = -1;
        while(beg <= end){
            mid = (end + beg) / 2;
            if(table[mid] < a){
                beg=mid+1;
                result = mid;
            }else if(table[mid] == a){
                return len-1;
            }else{
                end = mid-1;
            }
        }
        return result;
    }
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {        
        
//        int[] t = {1, 2, 5,9,16};
//        System.out.println(binarySearch(t , 9, 5));
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
        int size = in.nextInt();//4;
        
        int A[] = new int[size];
        int table[] = new int[A.length]; 
        int k = 0;
        while(k<size){
            A[k++] = in.nextInt();
            if(k<size-1)
                in.nextLine();
        }        
        table[0] = A[0];
        int len = 1; 
        for (int i = 1; i < A.length; i++) {
            if(table[0] > A[i]){
                table[0] = A[i];
            }else if(table[len-1]<A[i]){
                table[len++]=A[i];
            }else{
                table[binarySearch(table, A[i],len)+1] = A[i];
            }            
        }
        System.out.println(len);
    }    
}

//TreeSet can be used