Clarify the problem constraints (e.g., words longer than max width, empty list) and then walk through a greedy line-by-line simulation. For each line, accumulate words while the total length (sum of word lengths + spaces between them) does not exceed maxWidth, then record the count and start a new line.
Pro tip: Explicitly discuss edge cases like a single word exceeding maxWidth (which must occupy its own line) and empty input, and mention that the greedy approach is optimal for this specific problem because it minimizes the number of lines.
Ask about empty word list, words longer than maxWidth, and whether spaces count toward line width. Confirm that exactly one space separates adjacent words and that no trailing spaces are considered.
Explain that you will process words sequentially, adding as many as possible to the current line without exceeding maxWidth. The line length is the sum of word lengths plus (number of words - 1) spaces.
Iterate through the words, maintaining a running count of words on the current line and the current line length. When adding the next word would exceed maxWidth, finalize the current line, record its word count, and start a new line with that word.
If a single word exceeds maxWidth, it must be placed alone on a line (count = 1). After processing all words, record the final line's count.
State that the algorithm runs in O(n) time and O(1) extra space (excluding output). Walk through a small example to verify correctness.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.
First, outline the greedy line-breaking algorithm to determine which words go on each line, then explain the justification step: for each line except the last, distribute extra spaces between words, giving more spaces to left gaps when the total doesn't divide evenly. Emphasize handling edge cases like single-word lines and the last line, and discuss time/space complexity.
Pro tip: Mention that you can compute the number of spaces per gap using integer division and modulo, and that distributing the remainder to the leftmost gaps ensures the left-gaps-get-more rule. Also, note that the last line and single-word lines are left-justified, which simplifies the logic.
Confirm that the output must have each line exactly maxWidth characters, with extra spaces distributed between words, left gaps getting more when uneven. Identify edge cases: single-word lines, last line, and lines with no extra spaces needed.
Use a greedy approach to pack as many words as possible into each line without exceeding maxWidth, ensuring at least one space between words. This yields a list of lines, each with its words and the total character count of words.
For each line that is not the last and has more than one word, calculate total spaces needed = maxWidth - sum of word lengths. Compute base spaces per gap = total spaces // (number of gaps) and extra = total spaces % (number of gaps). Assign base+1 spaces to the first 'extra' gaps and base spaces to the rest.
For single-word lines and the last line, left-justify by appending a single space between words (if any) and padding the end with spaces to reach maxWidth. Ensure no trailing spaces beyond maxWidth.
State that the algorithm runs in O(n) time where n is the total number of characters, and O(n) space for the output. Discuss trade-offs: greedy line-breaking may not produce optimal justification (e.g., minimal raggedness) but is efficient and standard for this problem.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.