Three operations appear constantly: finding sum, finding minimum, finding maximum. Each follows the same pattern: initialize a variable, loop through the array, update based on each element.
For sum: start with 0, add each element. For minimum: start with first element, replace if smaller. For maximum: start with first element, replace if larger. The patterns are nearly identical.
These are building blocks for complex algorithms. Average? Sum divided by count. Range? Maximum minus minimum. Learn these three patterns and combine them for almost any computation.