Leetcode优化：Convert a binary tree to linked list

Flatten Binary Tree to Linked List

Given a binary tree, flatten it to a linked list in place, and each node's right child points to the next node of a preorder traversal.

From a recursive view, store the last visited node in a preorder walk, and last visited node'right child points to the current node. Before this, the right child node should be saved. 

class Solution {
public:
    void flatten(TreeNode *root) {
        if(root==NULL) return;
        last=NULL;
        preOrderFlatten(root);
    }
    
    void preOrderFlatten(TreeNode *root){
        if(root==NULL) return;
        TreeNode *savedRight=root->right;
        if(last==NULL) 
            last=root;
        else{ 
            last->right=root;
            last->left=NULL;
        }
        last=root;
        preOrderFlatten(root->left);
        preOrderFlatten(savedRight);  //由于前面可能会改变root->right的值，故这里需先保存
    }
private:
    TreeNode *last;
};

The second way is to mimic the preorder traversal in a iterative way. similar to the Morris Traversal. 

class Solution {
public:
    void flatten(TreeNode *root) {
        if(root==NULL) return;
        
        while(root){
            if(root->left){
                TreeNode *rightMost=root->left;
                while(rightMost->right)
                    rightMost=rightMost->right;
                rightMost->right=root->right;
                root->right=root->left;  //事先已经保存好了
                root->left=NULL;
            }
            root=root->right;
        }
    }
};

The left subtree's last node should points to the root's right child node. 

Flatten a BST into a sorted doubly linked list (EPI, 315)

Idea 1: store the result of a inorder traversal in a vector, and build the doubly linked list...

Idea 2: Add a auxiliary variable to store the last visited node in both recursive or iterative way.

Idea 3: Without any auxiliary variable, recursively dealing with the left subtree, the root, and the right subtree, This is only applied in the inorder traversal. 

//input: root is the refrenced pointer 
TreeNode * BST_to_Doubly_list(TreeNode * &root){ 
	if(root==NULL) return NULL;
	
	//as the left subtree and right subtree are independent
	TreeNode *lhead=BST_to_Doubly_list(root->left);
	TreeNode *rhead=BST_to_Doubly_list(root->right);
	
	//doubly linked list 
	TreeNode *ltail=NULL;
	if(lhead){
		ltail=head->left;
		ltail->right=root;
		root->left=ltail;
		ltail=n; 
	}
	else{
		lhead=ltail=root;
	}
	//append the list from the right subtree to root
	TreeNode *rtail=NULL;
	if(rhead){
		rtail=rhead->left;
		ltail->right=rhead;
		rhead->left=ltail;
	}
	else{
		rtail=ltail;
	}
	//link the new head and new tail together
	rtail->right=lhead; 
	lhead->left=rtail;
	
	return lhead;
}