N-ary Tree Serialization | Dataford Interview Questions

Write an efficient algorithm to serialize and deserialize an n-ary tree structure.

Represent the input tree as [value, [children...]], where each value is an integer. Implement serialize_and_deserialize(root) to return both a serialized string and the reconstructed tree in the same nested representation. Use preorder encoding, storing each node's value followed by its number of children, separated by spaces. Serialize an empty tree as an empty string.

Constraints

The input is either null or [value, children], where children is a list of nested trees.
Each node value is an integer.
The tree contains at most 10^5 nodes.
Child order must be preserved.
Input trees are valid and contain no cycles.

Function Signature

def serialize_and_deserialize(root):

Your question is N-ary Tree Serialization. Start with the requirements in the Question tab.

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Problem

Write an efficient algorithm to serialize and deserialize an n-ary tree structure.

Constraints

The input is either null or [value, children], where children is a list of nested trees.
Each node value is an integer.
The tree contains at most 10^5 nodes.
Child order must be preserved.
Input trees are valid and contain no cycles.

Function Signature

def serialize_and_deserialize(root):

Your question is N-ary Tree Serialization. Start with the requirements in the Question tab.

Run and submit as often as you like. When you're ready, talk me through your approach or go straight to the code.