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Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree

Certification: Advanced Level Accuracy: 0% Submissions: 0 Points: 15

Write a C program to serialize a binary tree to a string and deserialize the string back to the original tree structure. Serialization is the process of converting a data structure into a sequence of bits so that it can be stored or transmitted and reconstructed later in the same or another computer environment. Design an algorithm to serialize and deserialize a binary tree.

Example 1
    
      
  • Input: root = [1,2,3,null,null,4,5]
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  • Output: [1,2,3,null,null,4,5]
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  • Explanation: 
    • The binary tree is serialized to string representation. 
    • The string is then deserialized back to the original tree. 
    • Both trees should have identical structure and values.

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Example 2
    
      
  • Input: root = []
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  • Output: []
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  • Explanation: 
    • An empty tree is serialized to empty representation. 
    • Deserializing empty representation gives back empty tree. 
    • Both input and output are empty trees.

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Constraints
    
      
  • The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [0, 10^4]
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  • -1000 ≤ Node.val ≤ 1000
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  • Your serialization should be compact and readable
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  • Time Complexity: O(n) for both serialize and deserialize
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  • Space Complexity: O(n)
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Binary TreeHCL TechnologiesPhillips
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Hint
Solution

Solution Hints

    
      
  • Use preorder traversal for serialization to maintain tree structure
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  • Use a delimiter (like comma) to separate node values in the string
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  • Use a special marker (like "null") to represent null nodes
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  • For deserialization, parse the string and recursively build the tree
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  • Use a global index or pointer to track current position during parsing
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Steps to solve by this approach:

 Step 1: For serialization, use preorder traversal to visit nodes in a specific order.
 Step 2: Convert each node's value to string and append to result with delimiter.
 Step 3: Use special marker "null" to represent null nodes in the serialized string.
 Step 4: For deserialization, tokenize the serialized string using delimiter.
 Step 5: Use recursive approach with global token index to track current position.
 Step 6: Build tree nodes by parsing tokens in preorder sequence.
 Step 7: Return the root of the reconstructed binary tree.

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