Merge Two Sorted Lists

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
        if(l1 == null) return l2;
        if(l2 == null) return l1;
        ListNode pointer = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode answer = pointer;
        int i = 0;
        while(l1 != null || l2 != null)
        {
            if(l1 == null)
            {
                pointer.next = l2;
                pointer = pointer.next;
                l2 = l2.next;
            }
            else if(l2 == null)
            {
                pointer.next = l1;
                pointer = pointer.next;
                l1 = l1.next;
            }
            else if(l1.val <= l2.val )
            {
                pointer.next = l1;
                pointer = pointer.next;
                l1 = l1.next;
            }
            else if(l1.val > l2.val )
            {
                pointer.next = l2;
                pointer = pointer.next;
                l2 = l2.next;
            }
        }
        return answer.next;
    }
}

上面这个是自己的solution，下面的是leetcode上别人的solution。

ListNode pointer = new ListNode(0);//ListNode pointer = new ListNode();
        ListNode answer = pointer;//ListNode answer =pointer;

有一点不明白就是上面片段的语句按照注释里写怎么就不对了，求大神教学啊!ListNode(0)是初始化 pointer为{ 0 }么?

public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
        ListNode head = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode headcopy = head;
        while(l1 != null && l2 != null){
            if(l1.val < l2.val){
                headcopy.next = l1;
                l1 = l1.next;
            }
            else if(l2.val <= l1.val){
                headcopy.next = l2;
                l2 = l2.next;
            }
            headcopy = headcopy.next;
        }

        headcopy.next = (l1 == null ? l2 : l1);   
        return head.next;
    }
}