Riya Kumari’s Post

🔥 LeetCode Day--- 4 | “Median of Two Sorted Arrays” (Hard, Java) Today’s challenge was one of those that really test your logic, patience, and understanding of binary search. This problem wasn’t about just merging two sorted arrays — it was about thinking smarter 🧠. Instead of brute-forcing through both arrays (O(m+n)), I implemented a binary partition approach to achieve O(log(min(m, n))) efficiency 💡 What I learned today: Always choose the smaller array for binary search — it makes the partition logic simpler. Handle boundaries carefully with Integer.MIN_VALUE and Integer.MAX_VALUE. The goal is to find the perfect partition where: Left half ≤ Right half Elements are balanced across both arrays Once that’s done → median can be easily calculated! ✅ Result: Accepted | Runtime: 0 ms 🚀 Hard problem turned into a logic puzzle that was actually fun to solve! 🧩 Concepts Strengthened: Binary Search Partitioning Logic Edge Case Handling Mathematical Thinking #LeetCode #Day4 #Java #BinarySearch #ProblemSolving #CodingChallenge #DataStructures #Algorithms #CodeEveryday #DeveloperJourney #TechLearning #LeetCodeHard #CodingCommunity

📌 Day 16/100 - Reverse String (LeetCode 344) 🔹 Problem: Reverse a given string in-place — meaning you must modify the original array of characters without using extra space. 🔹 Approach: Used the two-pointer technique — one starting at the beginning and one at the end of the array. Swap characters at both pointers, then move them closer until they meet. Efficient, clean, and runs in linear time without additional memory allocation. 🔹 Key Learnings: In-place algorithms optimize space complexity significantly. The two-pointer pattern is a versatile tool for many array and string problems. Understanding mutable vs immutable structures in Java is crucial for memory efficiency. Sometimes, the simplest logic beats the most complex one. 🧠 “True efficiency lies in simplicity, not complexity.” #100DaysOfCode #LeetCode #Java #ProblemSolving #DSA #CodingJourney #TwoPointers

Day 80 of #100DaysOfCode Solved Frequency Sort in Java 🔠 Approach Today's problem was to sort an array based on the frequency of its numbers. My initial solution was accepted, but it exposed a major efficiency gap! My strategy involved: Sorting the array first. Using nested loops to count the frequency of each number and store it in a HashMap. (Implied) Using the counts to perform the final custom sort. The core issue was the counting method: running a full loop inside another full loop to get the frequency. This quadratic $O(N^2)$ counting completely tanked the performance. ✅ Runtime: 29 ms (Beats 12.02%) ✅ Memory: 45.26 MB (Beats 5.86%) Another great lesson in algorithmic complexity! The difference between $O(N^2)$ and the optimal $O(N \log N)$ for this problem is massive. Time to refactor and implement the fast, single-pass $O(N)$ frequency count using getOrDefault! 💪 #Java #100DaysOfCode #LeetCode #CodingChallenge #Algorithms #Arrays #HashMap #Optimization #ProblemSolving

✅ Day 35 of #100DaysOfCode Challenge 📘 LeetCode Problem 112: Path Sum 🧩 Problem Statement: Given the root of a binary tree and an integer targetSum, return true if there exists a root-to-leaf path whose sum of node values equals targetSum. Example: Input: root = [5,4,8,11,null,13,4,7,2,null,null,null,1], targetSum = 22 Output: true Explanation: Path 5 → 4 → 11 → 2 gives the sum = 22 ✅ 💡 Simple Approach: If the tree is empty → return false If it’s a leaf node → check if its value equals targetSum Otherwise → subtract node value and check left and right recursively 💻 Easiest Java Code: class Solution { public boolean hasPathSum(TreeNode root, int sum) { if (root == null) return false; if (root.left == null && root.right == null && root.val == sum) return true; sum = sum - root.val; return hasPathSum(root.left, sum) || hasPathSum(root.right, sum); } } ⚙️ Complexity: ⏱️ Time: O(n) → visit each node once 💾 Space: O(h) → recursion stack (h = height of tree) 🌿 Small code, big concept — recursion makes trees easy 🌱 #Day35 #100DaysOfCode #LeetCode #Java #DSA #BinaryTree #Recursion #CodingChallenge

✅ Day 35 of #100DaysOfCode Challenge 📘 LeetCode Problem 112: Path Sum 🧩 Problem Statement: Given the root of a binary tree and an integer targetSum, return true if there exists a root-to-leaf path whose sum of node values equals targetSum. Example: Input: root = [5,4,8,11,null,13,4,7,2,null,null,null,1], targetSum = 22 Output: true Explanation: Path 5 → 4 → 11 → 2 gives the sum = 22 ✅ 💡 Simple Approach: If the tree is empty → return false If it’s a leaf node → check if its value equals targetSum Otherwise → subtract node value and check left and right recursively 💻 Easiest Java Code: class Solution { public boolean hasPathSum(TreeNode root, int sum) { if (root == null) return false; if (root.left == null && root.right == null && root.val == sum) return true; sum = sum - root.val; return hasPathSum(root.left, sum) || hasPathSum(root.right, sum); } } ⚙️ Complexity: ⏱️ Time: O(n) → visit each node once 💾 Space: O(h) → recursion stack (h = height of tree) 🌿 Small code, big concept — recursion makes trees easy 🌱 #Day35 #100DaysOfCode #LeetCode #Java #DSA #BinaryTree #Recursion #CodingChallenge

Day 31/100 – #100DaysOfCode 🚀 | #Java #LeetCode #Sorting #Arrays ✅ Problem Solved: Maximum Gap ⚙️ 🧩 Problem Summary: Given an unsorted array, find the maximum difference between successive elements in its sorted form. You must solve it in linear time and space. 💡 Approach Used: Used Bucket Sort (Pigeonhole Principle) to achieve linear performance — ➤ Calculated global min & max. ➤ Divided range into buckets based on array size. ➤ Placed elements into buckets tracking min & max of each. ➤ Found maximum gap between successive non-empty buckets. ⚙️ Time Complexity: O(N) 📦 Space Complexity: O(N) ✨ Takeaway: This problem sharpened my understanding of bucket-based approaches and how sorting principles can be applied efficiently without direct sorting. ⚡ #Java #LeetCode #BucketSort #Sorting #ProblemSolving #100DaysOfCode #CodingChallenge

💻 Day 4 of #100DaysOfCode Challenge Topic: Binary Tree Traversals 🌳 Problems Solved: 🔹 94. Binary Tree Inorder Traversal 🔹 144. Binary Tree Preorder Traversal 🔹 145. Binary Tree Postorder Traversal Concept Recap: Today, I explored the three fundamental depth-first traversal techniques used in binary trees: ✅ Inorder (Left → Root → Right) – Produces a sorted order for BSTs. ✅ Preorder (Root → Left → Right) – Useful for creating a copy of the tree or serialization. ✅ Postorder (Left → Right → Root) – Ideal for deleting trees or evaluating expressions. Each traversal follows a recursive approach to explore nodes systematically. Implementing them helped me strengthen my understanding of recursion and how stack frames manage function calls behind the scenes. Key Learnings: 🧠 Understood how traversal order impacts output sequence. ⚙️ Practiced recursive depth-first traversal logic in Java. 🌱 Improved code readability by modularizing recursive functions. #LeetCode #DataStructures #BinaryTree #Recursion #Java #CodingChallenge #100DaysChallenge #Day4

💻 Strengthening Problem-Solving Skills with LeetCode (Java) Recently explored a few interesting problems that focused on string manipulation, array traversal, and text formatting — each reinforcing clarity and precision in algorithmic thinking: 🔹 Text Justification Implemented a custom text alignment algorithm that evenly distributes spaces between words to fit a given line width. Approach: Greedy + StringBuilder Time Complexity: O(n) 🔹 Two Sum II – Input Array Is Sorted Solved using a two-pointer technique to efficiently find pairs that add up to a target value in a sorted array. Approach: Two Pointers Time Complexity: O(n) 🔹 Is Subsequence Checked whether one string is a subsequence of another using linear traversal and pointer comparison. Approach: Two Pointers Time Complexity: O(n) 🔹 Valid Palindrome Validated alphanumeric palindromes by filtering characters and comparing from both ends. Approach: String cleaning + two-pointer comparison Time Complexity: O(n) These problems helped sharpen my logic-building process and improved my confidence in designing efficient, readable solutions. #LeetCode #Java #ProblemSolving #DSA #Algorithms #Coding #SoftwareEngineering

LeetCode Question #199 — Binary Tree Right Side View Thrilled to share another Accepted Solution (100% Runtime 🚀) on LeetCode! This problem focuses on Binary Trees — specifically, how to capture the view of a tree from its right side 🌳➡️. I implemented a Modified Pre-Order Traversal (Root → Right → Left) in Java, ensuring that the first node at each level (from the right) gets recorded. 💡 Key Idea: Use recursion with a level tracker — when the current level equals the list size, it means we’re seeing the rightmost node for the first time. Here’s the performance snapshot: ⚙️ Runtime: 0 ms (Beats 100% of Java submissions) 💾 Memory: 42.4 MB Every problem like this sharpens my understanding of tree traversal patterns and depth-first search optimization. #LeetCode #Java #DataStructures #BinaryTree #ProblemSolving #CodingJourney #DSA #100PercentRuntime

💡 LeetCode 1768 – Merge Strings Alternately 💡 Today, I solved LeetCode Problem #1768, a delightful string manipulation problem that strengthens the fundamentals of character traversal and string building using StringBuilder in Java. 🧩 Problem Overview: You’re given two strings, word1 and word2. Your task is to merge them alternately — take one character from each string in turn, and if one string is longer, append its remaining characters at the end. 👉 Examples: Input → word1 = "abc", word2 = "pqr" → Output → "apbqcr" Input → word1 = "ab", word2 = "pqrs" → Output → "apbqrs" Input → word1 = "abcd", word2 = "pq" → Output → "apbqcd" 💡 Approach: 1️⃣ Use two pointers i and j to iterate through both strings. 2️⃣ Append one character from word1, then one from word2, alternately. 3️⃣ Continue until both strings are fully traversed. 4️⃣ Return the merged string using StringBuilder.toString(). ⚙️ Complexity Analysis: ✅ Time Complexity: O(n + m) — Each character from both strings is processed once. ✅ Space Complexity: O(n + m) — For the resulting merged string. ✨ Key Takeaways: Reinforced understanding of two-pointer traversal and StringBuilder for efficient string concatenation. Showed how simple looping logic can elegantly handle strings of unequal lengths. Practiced writing clean, readable, and efficient code for basic string problems. 🌱 Reflection: Even simple problems like this one are valuable for sharpening algorithmic thinking and code clarity. Mastering these fundamental string operations lays the groundwork for tackling more advanced text-processing challenges later on. 🚀 #LeetCode #1768 #Java #StringManipulation #TwoPointerTechnique #DSA #ProblemSolving #CleanCode #AlgorithmicThinking #DailyCoding #ConsistencyIsKey