Problem

At Notion, you need a utility that verifies whether a given string is a palindrome. A palindrome reads the same from left to right and right to left.

Write a function that takes a string s and returns True if s is a palindrome and False otherwise.

Formal Specification

• Input: A string s
• Output: A boolean value
  • True if s is identical to its reverse
  • False otherwise

Use a direct algorithmic approach rather than relying on external libraries.

Examples

Example 1

Input: s = "racecar"
Output: True

"racecar" is the same when reversed.

Example 2

Input: s = "hello"
Output: False

The first and last characters do not match, so it is not a palindrome.

Constraints

• 0 <= len(s) <= 10^5
• s contains printable ASCII characters
• Comparison is case-sensitive
• Spaces and punctuation are treated as normal characters

Notes

An empty string should be considered a palindrome. Aim for a solution that runs in linear time.