449. Serialize and Deserialize BST

Serialization is the process of converting a data structure or object into a sequence of bits so that it can be stored in a file or memory buffer, or transmitted across a network connection link to be reconstructed later in the same or another computer environment.

Design an algorithm to serialize and deserialize a binary search tree. There is no restriction on how your serialization/deserialization algorithm should work. You just need to ensure that a binary search tree can be serialized to a string and this string can be deserialized to the original tree structure.

The encoded string should be as compact as possible.

Note: Do not use class member/global/static variables to store states. Your serialize and deserialize algorithms should be stateless.

Reference: 297. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree

方法1:

discussion：https://leetcode.com/problems/serialize-and-deserialize-bst/discuss/93167/Concise-C%2B%2B-19ms-solution-beating-99.4
花花酱：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDqVCQcmxgU
思路：

和297相比，这里进一步利用bst的性质，省去了null = “#”的部分，仅根据数字大小就可以判断是左子树还是右子树。重要结论：BST的前序遍历能唯一的确定一颗BST，不是中序，也不是后序。在deserialize时做出相应修改：keep一个最大和最小值来确定当前subtree的合法范围。

易错点

1. 用binary format 来取代ASCII的搬运方式：如果val 大于四个字符的话，会节省空间。同时也不需要用空格来分割val。
2. stringstream的使用

class Codec {
public:

    // Encodes a tree to a single string.
    string serialize(TreeNode* root) {
        string order;
        inorderDFS(root, order);
        return order;
    }
    
    inline void inorderDFS(TreeNode* root, string& order) {
        if (!root) return;
        char buf[4];
        memcpy(buf, &(root->val), sizeof(int)); //burn the int into 4 chars
        for (int i=0; i<4; i++) order.push_back(buf[i]);
        inorderDFS(root->left, order);
        inorderDFS(root->right, order);
    }

    // Decodes your encoded data to tree.
    TreeNode* deserialize(string data) {
        int pos = 0;
        return reconstruct(data, pos, INT_MIN, INT_MAX);
    }
    
    inline TreeNode* reconstruct(const string& buffer, int& pos, int minValue, int maxValue) {
        if (pos >= buffer.size()) return NULL; //using pos to check whether buffer ends is better than using char* directly.
        
        int value;
        memcpy(&value, &buffer[pos], sizeof(int));
        if (value < minValue || value > maxValue) return NULL;
        
        TreeNode* node = new TreeNode(value);
        pos += sizeof(int);
        node->left = reconstruct(buffer, pos, minValue, value);
        node->right = reconstruct(buffer, pos, value, maxValue);
        return node;
    }
};

方法2: level-order traversal/BFS

grandyang：http://www.cnblogs.com/grandyang/p/4913869.html

思路：

用bfs的方法

易错点

1. serialize和deserialize的时候，都需要判空。
2. deserialize的时候，每次的要判断有没有需要连接的左右孩子，并且将孩子入队。

Complexity

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(1)

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Codec {
public:

    // Encodes a tree to a single string.
    string serialize(TreeNode* root) {
        ostringstream out;
        queue<TreeNode*> q;
        if (root) q.push(root);
        while (!q.empty()){
            TreeNode* t = q.front();
            q.pop();
            if (t){
                out << t -> val << " ";
                q.push(t -> left);
                q.push(t -> right);
            } 
            else {
                out << "# ";
            }        
        }
        return out.str();
    }

    // Decodes your encoded data to tree.
    TreeNode* deserialize(string data) {
        if (data.empty()) return nullptr;
        istringstream in(data);
        queue<TreeNode*> q;
        string val;
        in >> val;
        TreeNode* root = new TreeNode(stoi(val));
        TreeNode* current = root;
        q.push(current);
        while (!q.empty()){
            TreeNode* t = q.front();
            q.pop();
            if (!(in >> val)) break;
            if (val != "#") {
                current = new TreeNode(stoi(val));
                q.push(current);
                t -> left = current;
            }
            if (!(in >> val)) break;
            if (val != "#") {
                current = new TreeNode(stoi(val));
                q.push(current);
                t -> right = current;
            }
        }
        return root;
    }
};

// Your Codec object will be instantiated and called as such:
// Codec codec;
// codec.deserialize(codec.serialize(root));