Leetcode Journey

A recap of my first five problems on Leetcode. Key lessons included writing algorithms on paper, focusing on edge cases, and learning from failure.

Failed to solve the problem with an O(N²) approach, then learned a simpler O(N) solution from the community. A humbling but valuable experience.

Learned the importance of handling empty strings. Achieved one of my most optimized solutions at 0ms runtime.

Re-solved a problem from last year and improved performance from 43ms to 7ms. A good reminder of measurable progress.

Explored string immutability and learned why appending to strings is inefficient. Reverted to the simpler solution after testing optimizations.

Solved Leetcode 2239 by writing the algorithm out on paper first. Ended up with an O(N) solution optimized down to 3ms runtime.