Leetcode 297. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree

public class Codec {
    private static final String NULL = "null";
    private static final String SPLT = " ";
    
    // BFS saves nodes level by level
    public String serialize(TreeNode root) {
        if (root == null) 
            return "";
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.append(root.val + SPLT);
        Queue<TreeNode> queue = new LinkedList<>();
        queue.offer(root);
        while (!queue.isEmpty()) {
            TreeNode node = queue.poll();
            if (node.left == null) {
                sb.append(NULL + SPLT);
            } else {
                queue.offer(node.left);
                sb.append(node.left.val + SPLT);
            }
            if (node.right == null) {
                sb.append(NULL + SPLT);
            } else {
                queue.offer(node.right);
                sb.append(node.right.val + SPLT);
            }
        }
        return sb.toString();
    }

    // Decodes your encoded data to tree.
    public TreeNode deserialize(String data) {
        if (data.length() == 0)
            return null;
        String[] nodes = data.split(SPLT);
        // Create the root
        TreeNode root = new TreeNode(Integer.valueOf(nodes[0]));
        // Save root node into the queue
        Queue<TreeNode> queue = new LinkedList<>();
        queue.offer(root);
        int index = 1;
        while (!queue.isEmpty()) {
            Queue<TreeNode> nextQueue = new LinkedList<>();
            while (!queue.isEmpty()) {
                TreeNode node = queue.poll();
                // Create the left child
                if (nodes[index].equals(NULL)) {
                    node.left = null;
                } else {
                    node.left = new TreeNode(Integer.valueOf(nodes[index]));
                    nextQueue.offer(node.left);
                }
                index++;
                // Create the right child
                if (nodes[index].equals(NULL)) {
                    node.right = null;
                } else {
                    node.right = new TreeNode(Integer.valueOf(nodes[index]));
                    nextQueue.offer(node.right);
                }
                index++;
            }
            // Update the queue
            queue = nextQueue;
        }
        
        return root;
    }
}