Question Definition
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.
Java Solution
/**
* Definition for a binary tree node.
* public class TreeNode {
* int val;
* TreeNode left;
* TreeNode right;
* TreeNode(int x) { val = x; }
* }
*/
public class Codec {
// Encodes a tree to a single string.
public String serialize(TreeNode root) {
if (root == null) return "$,";
return root.val + "," + serialize(root.left) + serialize(root.right);
}
// Decodes your encoded data to tree.
public TreeNode deserialize(String data) {
Queue<String> q = new LinkedList<>();
String[] strs = data.split(",");
for (String str : strs) {
q.add(str);
}
return dfs(q);
}
private TreeNode dfs(Queue<String> q) {
String str = q.remove();
if (str.equals("$")) return null;
TreeNode root = new TreeNode(Integer.valueOf(str));
root.left = dfs(q);
root.right = dfs(q);
return root;
}
}
// Your Codec object will be instantiated and called as such:
// Codec codec = new Codec();
// codec.deserialize(codec.serialize(root));
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