Min Moves to Valid Parentheses: LeetCode 921 Solution

🚀 Day 36 of my DSA Journey 📌 Problem: 560. Subarray Sum Equals K Given an array and a value k, we need to find how many subarrays (continuous parts of the array) add up to k. 💡 My Approach (Simple Explanation): Instead of checking all subarrays (which is slow), I used the prefix sum + HashMap trick. Keep adding elements to get a running sum Check if (current sum - k) was seen before If yes, it means a valid subarray exists Store prefix sums in a map to reuse quickly This makes the solution efficient ⚡ ✅ Result: Accepted ⏱ Runtime: 0 ms ✨ Small optimizations like this really show how powerful concepts can simplify problems! #Day36 #DSA #CodingJourney #Java #LeetCode #ProblemSolving

“Most people try to overcomplicate this one… but the simplest approach wins.” Day 69 — LeetCode Progress Problem: Height Checker Required: Given an array of student heights, return the number of indices where the heights are not in the expected non-decreasing order. Idea: If we sort the array, we get the expected order. Now just compare the original array with the sorted version — mismatches are the answer. Approach: Create a copy of the original array Sort the copied array Traverse both arrays: Compare elements at each index If they differ → increment count Return the count Time Complexity: O(n log n) Space Complexity: O(n) #LeetCode #DSA #Java #Arrays #Sorting #ProblemSolving #CodingJourney

Day 41 of Daily DSA 🚀 Solved LeetCode 20: Valid Parentheses ✅ Problem: Given a string containing only (), {}, [], determine if the input string is valid. Rules: Open brackets must be closed by the same type Open brackets must be closed in the correct order Every closing bracket must have a matching opening bracket Approach: Used a Stack to track opening brackets and validate matching pairs. Steps: Traverse the string Push opening brackets onto the stack For closing brackets → check top of stack If it matches → pop Else → return false At the end, stack should be empty ⏱ Complexity: • Time: O(n) • Space: O(n) 📊 LeetCode Stats: • Runtime: 3 ms (Beats 87.41%) ⚡ • Memory: 43.37 MB A classic stack problem that builds strong fundamentals for expression parsing & validation. #DSA #LeetCode #Java #Stack #ProblemSolving #CodingJourney #Consistency

Day 39 of Daily DSA 🚀 Solved LeetCode 1446: Consecutive Characters ✅ Problem: The power of a string is the maximum length of a non-empty substring that contains only one unique character. Given a string s, return its power. Rules: * Substring must be non-empty * Substring must contain only one unique character * Return the maximum such length Approach: Used a simple linear scan to track the current streak of consecutive identical characters and update the maximum. Steps: 1. Initialize max and count both to 1 2. Iterate from index 1 onwards 3. If current character equals previous → increment count 4. Else → reset count to 1 5. Update max at every step 6. Return max ⏱ Complexity: • Time: O(n) • Space: O(1) 📊 LeetCode Stats: • Runtime: 29 ms (Beats 2.02%) • Memory: 45.33 MB Sometimes the simplest sliding window — just two variables — is all you need to solve a problem cleanly. #DSA #LeetCode #Java #SlidingWindow #Strings #CodingJourney #ProblemSolving

Day 68 — LeetCode Progress Problem: Check if an array is “special” — meaning every pair of adjacent elements has different parity (one even, one odd). Required: Given an integer array, return true if no two adjacent elements have the same parity, otherwise return false. Idea: If two neighboring numbers are both even or both odd, the condition fails immediately. So just compare parity of adjacent elements throughout the array. Approach: Traverse the array starting from index 1 For each element: Compare it with the previous element If both have same parity → return false If the loop completes → return true Time Complexity: O(n) Space Complexity: O(1) Clean, simple, and a good reminder that not every problem needs something fancy — sometimes it’s just about spotting the pattern. #LeetCode #DSA #Java #Arrays #ProblemSolving #CodingJourney

🚀 Day 69 — LeetCode Practice 🚀 Today’s focus was on string manipulation and careful indexing. ✅ Problem solved today: 🔹 Find Common Characters 💡 Key learnings from today: • Understood how to find common characters across multiple strings • Learned the importance of character frequency counting • Practiced handling nested loops efficiently • Realized how small mistakes in indexing can affect the entire logic • Improved attention to detail while working with strings Initially, I made a mistake by using the wrong variable inside charAt(). This caused incorrect indexing, which can either lead to wrong output or even StringIndexOutOfBoundsException. After fixing it, the logic worked perfectly by correctly comparing characters and tracking their minimum frequency across all words. This problem reinforced an important lesson: Sometimes errors are not in logic — but in small details like indexing and variable usage. Accuracy matters as much as logic. Step by step, getting better 💪 On to Day 70 🚀 #Day69 #DSA #LeetCode #ProblemSolving #Java #CodingJourney #Consistency #FutureEngineer

💡 Day 42 of LeetCode Problem Solved! 🔧 🌟1876. Substrings of Size Three with Distinct Characters🌟 Task : • A string is good if there are no repeated characters. • Given a string s, return the number of good substrings of length three in s. • Note that if there are multiple occurrences of the same substring, every occurrence should be counted. • A substring is a contiguous sequence of characters in a string.   Example 1: Input: s = "xyzzaz" Output: 1 Explanation: There are 4 substrings of size 3: "xyz", "yzz", "zza", and "zaz". The only good substring of length 3 is "xyz". Example 2: Input: s = "aababcabc" Output: 4 Explanation: There are 7 substrings of size 3: "aab", "aba", "bab", "abc", "bca", "cab", and "abc". The good substrings are "abc", "bca", "cab", and "abc". #LeetCode #Java #DSA #ProblemSolving #Consistency #100DaysOfChallenge #CodingJourney #KeepGrowing

🚀 Day 71/100 – LeetCode Challenge Solved: Remove Duplicates from Sorted List II (Medium) Today’s problem was a great test of Linked List manipulation and handling edge cases efficiently. 🔍 Key Insight: Since the list is sorted, duplicates appear consecutively. Instead of keeping one copy, the challenge is to remove all nodes with duplicate values, leaving only distinct elements. 💡 Approach: Used a dummy node to handle edge cases Applied two-pointer technique (prev & current) Skipped entire duplicate sequences in one pass ⚡ Result: Runtime: 0 ms (Beats 100%) Space Complexity: O(1) 🎯 Key Learning: Handling duplicates in linked lists requires careful pointer updates — especially when the head itself is part of duplicates. Consistency is key 🔥 #Day71 #LeetCode #100DaysOfCode #Java #DataStructures #LinkedList #ProblemSolving #CodingJourney

Day 47 of Daily DSA 🚀 Solved LeetCode 74: Search a 2D Matrix ✅ Problem: Given a sorted 2D matrix where: • Each row is sorted • First element of each row > last element of previous row Find whether a target exists in the matrix. Approach: Used an optimized staircase search (top-right traversal). Steps: Start from top-right corner If element == target → return true If element > target → move left If element < target → move down Continue until found or out of bounds ⏱ Complexity: • Time: O(n + m) • Space: O(1) 📊 LeetCode Stats: • Runtime: 0 ms (Beats 100%) ⚡ • Memory: 43.84 MB Sometimes choosing the right starting point (top-right) makes the search super efficient 💡 #DSA #LeetCode #Java #Matrix #BinarySearch #CodingJourney #ProblemSolving

Many subarray problems follow the same hidden pattern — once you recognize it, they become much easier. 🚀 Day 102/365 — DSA Challenge Solved: Count Number of Nice Subarrays Problem idea: We need to count the number of subarrays that contain exactly k odd numbers. Efficient approach: Use the same trick as previous problem: subarrays with exactly k odds = subarrays with ≤ k odds − subarrays with ≤ (k − 1) odds Steps: 1. Use a sliding window to count subarrays with at most k odd numbers 2. Expand window by moving right pointer 3. If odd count exceeds k, shrink window from left 4. Add valid subarrays ending at each index 5. Subtract results to get exact count This pattern works beautifully for binary-like conditions. ⏱ Time: O(n) 📦 Space: O(1) Day 102/365 complete. 💻 263 days to go. Code: https://lnkd.in/dad5sZfu #DSA #Java #SlidingWindow #LeetCode #LearningInPublic