special cases

throw invalid_argument( "received negative value" );

when it's negative

think about zeros

lowercase? uppercase? strange chars?

think about n = 0 or 1...before you do something nums[0]

• it's just think about if the index would become negative, when you do nums[i - 1], notice i can be < 1

do we have duplicate numbers

when things like vector<ListNode*>& listsis given, not only considering lists.size()==0, but also should think of lists[i] = NULL something like[[],[]].

does the linked list has a circle/loop?

overflow!every time when you do a 四则运算

will this function only be called once?

don't forget to return!!!!!!

only one answer? think about the alien dict

basic info

http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/variables/

words that can have unclear meanings

Note that it is the kth smallest element in the sorted order, not the kth distinct element.

STL Container Performance

STL Container Performance Table

Container Types:
================
Container:
    Forward Container
        Reverse Container
            Random Access Container
    Sequence
        Front Insert Sequence
        Back  Insert Sequence
    Associative Container
        Simple   Associative Container
        Pair     Associative Container
        Sorted   Associative Container
        Multiple Associative Container

Container Types mapped to Standard Containers
=============================================

std::vector:    Sequence    Back        Sequence                    Forward/Reverse/Random Container
std::deque:     Sequence    Front/Back  Sequence                    Forward/Reverse/Random Container
std::list:      Sequence    Front/Back  Seuqence                    Forward/Reverse Container
std::set:       Sorted/Simple/Unique    Associative Container       Forward Container
std::map:       Sorted/Pair/Unique      Associative Container       Forward Container
std::multiset:  Sorted/Simple/Multiple  Associative Container       Forward Container
std::multimap:  Sorted/Pair/Multiple    Associative Container       Forward Container


Container Guarantees:
=====================

                                                                                  Simp
                                                                                  or
                          For   Rev  Rand        Front  Back  Assoc        Sort   Mult
                    Cont: Cont: Cont Cont: Sequ: Sequ:  Sequ: Cont:        Cont:  Cont:
Copy    Const:      O(n)
Fill    Const:                             O(n)
begin()             O(1)
end()               O(1)
rbegin()                        O(1)
rend()                          O(1)
front()                                    O(1)
push_front()                                     O(1)
pop_front()                                      O(1)
push_back()                                             O(1)
pop_back()                                              O(1)
Insert()                                                                          O(ln(n))
Insert: fill                               O(n)
Insert: range                              O(n)                                   O(kln(n)+n)
size()              O(n)
swap()              O(1)
erase key                                                     O(ln(n))
erase element                                                 O(1)
erase range                                                   O(ln(n)+S)
count()                                                       O(log(n)+k)
find()                                                        O(ln(n))
equal range                                                   O(ln(n))
Lower Bound/Upper Bound                                                    O(ln(n))
Equality                  O(n)
InEquality                O(n)
Element Access                       O(1)

structures

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */