leetcode #111 in cpp

Given a binary tree, find its minimum depth.

The minimum depth is the number of nodes along the shortest path from the root node down to the nearest leaf node.

Solution:

Be careful about the definition of minimum depth. If a node has a left child but no right child, then the node's height is 1 + height(leftchild) instead of 1. Thus a node having only 1 child are special cases. 

Code:

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    int minDepth(TreeNode* root) {
        //null, height is 0
        if(!root) return 0;
        //no leaf node, height is 1 
        if(!root->left && !root->right) return 1;
        
        int left = minDepth(root->left);
        //no left, then make left the largest 
        left = left == 0 ?INT_MAX:left;
        int right = minDepth(root->right);
        //no right, then make right the largest
        right = right == 0 ?INT_MAX:right;
        
        return 1 + min(left, right);
    }
};