LeetCode-Recover Binary Search Tree

Two elements of a binary search tree (BST) are swapped by mistake.

Recover the tree without changing its structure.

Note:
A solution using O(n) space is pretty straight forward. Could you devise a constant space solution?

confused what "{1,#,2,3}" means? > read more on how binary tree is serialized on OJ.

OJ's Binary Tree Serialization:

The serialization of a binary tree follows a level order traversal, where '#' signifies a path terminator where no node exists below.

Here's an example:

   1
  / \
 2   3
    /
   4
    \
     5

The above binary tree is serialized as "{1,2,3,#,#,4,#,#,5}".

Solution:

Code:

<span style="font-size:14px;">/**
 * Definition for binary tree
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    void helper(TreeNode *root, TreeNode *&first, TreeNode *&second, TreeNode *&third, TreeNode *&last) {
        if (root == NULL) return;
        if (last == NULL && root->left == NULL)
            last = root;
        helper(root->left, first, second, third, last);
        if (first != NULL && third != NULL) return;
        if (last->val > root->val && first == NULL) {
            first = last;
            second = root;
        } else if (last->val > root->val && third == NULL)
            third = root;
        last = root;
        helper(root->right, first, second, third, last);
        return;
    }
    
    void recoverTree(TreeNode *root) {
        TreeNode *first = NULL, *second = NULL, *third = NULL, *last = NULL;
        helper(root, first, second, third, last);
        int temp = first->val;
        if (third == NULL) {
            first->val = second->val;
            second->val = temp;
        } else {
            first->val = third->val;
            third->val = temp;
        }
        return;
    }
};</span>