My first instinct was brute force, try removing each character and check.
Use a two-pointer technique to check if the string is a palindrome, and when a mismatch occurs, try skipping either the left or right character and check if the remaining substring is a palindrome. This ensures O(n) time and O(1) space, which is optimal for this problem.
Pro tip: After coding, discuss edge cases like empty strings, single characters, and strings that are already palindromes, and mention that the solution handles them naturally. Also, briefly analyze time and space complexity to show thoroughness.
Confirm that 'removing at most one character' means we can remove zero or one character, and that the string consists of lowercase English letters (or clarify constraints).
Initialize left and right pointers at the start and end of the string. Move them inward while characters match.
When a mismatch occurs, check if the substring skipping the left character or skipping the right character is a palindrome. If either is, return true.
Write a helper function that checks if a substring is a palindrome using two pointers, to avoid code duplication.
State that time complexity is O(n) and space is O(1). Walk through a few test cases, including edge cases.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.