CODE 37: Unique Binary Search Trees II

Given n, generate all structurally unique BST's (binary search trees) that store values 1...n.

For example,
Given n = 3, your program should return all 5 unique BST's shown below.

   1         3     3      2      1
    \       /     /      / \      \
     3     2     1      1   3      2
    /     /       \                 \
   2     1         2                 3

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}".

	public ArrayList<TreeNode> generateTrees(int n) {
		// Start typing your Java solution below
		// DO NOT write main() function
		if (n <= 0) {
			ArrayList<TreeNode> node = new ArrayList<TreeNode>();
			node.add(null);
			return node;
		}
		return dfs(1, n);
	}

	ArrayList<TreeNode> dfs(int start, int end) {
		if (end - start < 0) {
			return null;
		} else if (end - start == 0) {
			ArrayList<TreeNode> node = new ArrayList<TreeNode>();
			node.add(new TreeNode(start));
			return node;
		}
		ArrayList<TreeNode> node = new ArrayList<TreeNode>();
		for (int i = start; i <= end; i++) {
			ArrayList<TreeNode> leftNodes = dfs(start, i - 1);
			ArrayList<TreeNode> rightNodes = dfs(i + 1, end);
			if (null != leftNodes || null != rightNodes) {
				if (null == leftNodes) {
					for (TreeNode rightNode : rightNodes) {
						TreeNode newNode = new TreeNode(i);
						newNode.right = rightNode;
						node.add(newNode);
					}
				} else if (null == rightNodes) {
					for (TreeNode leftNode : leftNodes) {
						TreeNode newNode = new TreeNode(i);
						newNode.left = leftNode;
						node.add(newNode);
					}
				} else {
					for (TreeNode leftNode : leftNodes) {
						for (TreeNode rightNode : rightNodes) {
							TreeNode newNode = new TreeNode(i);
							newNode.left = leftNode;
							newNode.right = rightNode;
							node.add(newNode);
						}
					}
				}
			} else {
				TreeNode newNode = new TreeNode(i);
				node.add(newNode);
			}

		}
		return node;
	}