input: 
  def find_max_element(array: List[int]) -> int:
      """ Given an array of integers, find and return the maximum element in the array.
      >>> find_max_element([1, 10, 50, 3, 8])
      50
      >>> find_max_element([-1, -10, -50, -3, -8])
      -1
      >>> find_max_element([0, 0, 0, 0, 0])
      0
      """
  
output:     if not array:
          return None
      max_element = array[0]
      for num in array:
          if num > max_element:
              max_element = num
      return max_element