freeCodeCamp/curriculum/challenges/english/08-coding-interview-prep/data-structures/delete-a-leaf-node-in-a-binary-search-tree.english.md

id	title	challengeType
587d8258367417b2b2512c80	Delete a Leaf Node in a Binary Search Tree	1

Description

This is the first of three challenges where we will implement a more difficult operation in binary search trees: deletion. Deletion is difficult because removing nodes breaks links in the tree. These links must be carefully reestablished to ensure the binary tree structure is maintained. For some deletions, this means the tree must be rearranged. In general, you will encounter one of three cases when trying to delete a node: Leaf Node: The target to delete has zero children. One Child: The target to delete only has one child. Two Children: The target to delete has two child nodes. Removing a leaf node is easy, we simply remove it. Deleting a node with one child is also relatively easy, we simply remove it and link its parent to child of the node we deleted. Removing a node with two children is more difficult, however, because this creates two child nodes that need to be reconnected to the parent tree. We'll see how to deal with this case in the third challenge. Additionally, you need to be mindful of some edge cases when handling deletion. What if the tree is empty? What if the node to delete is the root node? What if there are only two elements in the tree? For now, let's handle the first case where we delete a leaf node. Instructions: Create a method on our binary tree called remove. We'll build the logic for our deletion operation in here. First, you'll want to create a function within remove that finds the node we are trying to delete in the current tree. If the node is not present in the tree, remove should return null. Now, if the target node is a leaf node with no children, then the parent reference to it should be set to null. This effectively deletes the node from the tree. To do this, you will have to keep track of the parent of the node we are trying to delete as well. It will also be useful to create a way to track the number of children the target node has, as this will determine which case our deletion falls under. We will handle the second and third cases in the next challenges. Good luck!

Instructions

Tests

tests:
  - text: The <code>BinarySearchTree</code> data structure exists.
    testString: assert((function() { var test = false; if (typeof BinarySearchTree !== 'undefined') { test = new BinarySearchTree() }; return (typeof test == 'object')})(), 'The <code>BinarySearchTree</code> data structure exists.');
  - text: The binary search tree has a method called <code>remove</code>.
    testString: assert((function() { var test = false; if (typeof BinarySearchTree !== 'undefined') { test = new BinarySearchTree() } else { return false; }; return (typeof test.remove == 'function')})(), 'The binary search tree has a method called <code>remove</code>.');
  - text: Trying to remove an element that does not exist returns <code>null</code>.
    testString: assert((function() { var test = false; if (typeof BinarySearchTree !== 'undefined') { test = new BinarySearchTree() } else { return false; }; if (typeof test.remove !== 'function') { return false; }; return (test.remove(100) == null); })(), 'Trying to remove an element that does not exist returns <code>null</code>.');
  - text: If the root node has no children, deleting it sets the root to <code>null</code>.
    testString: assert((function() { var test = false; if (typeof BinarySearchTree !== 'undefined') { test = new BinarySearchTree() } else { return false; }; if (typeof test.remove !== 'function') { return false; }; test.add(500); test.remove(500); return (test.inorder() == null); })(), 'If the root node has no children, deleting it sets the root to <code>null</code>.');
  - text: The <code>remove</code> method removes leaf nodes from the tree
    testString: assert((function() { var test = false; if (typeof BinarySearchTree !== 'undefined') { test = new BinarySearchTree() } else { return false; }; if (typeof test.remove !== 'function') { return false; }; test.add(5); test.add(3); test.add(7); test.add(6); test.add(10); test.add(12); test.remove(3); test.remove(12); test.remove(10); return (test.inorder().join('') == '567'); })(), 'The <code>remove</code> method removes leaf nodes from the tree');

Challenge Seed

var displayTree = (tree) => console.log(JSON.stringify(tree, null, 2));
function Node(value) {
    this.value = value;
    this.left = null;
    this.right = null;
}

function BinarySearchTree() {
    this.root = null;
    // case 1: target has no children, change code below this line
}

After Test

BinarySearchTree.prototype = {
    add: function(value) {
        var node = this.root;
        if (node == null) {
          this.root = new Node(value);
          return;
        } else {
            function searchTree(node) {
                if (value < node.value) {
                    if (node.left == null) {
                        node.left = new Node(value);
                        return;
                    } else if (node.left != null) {
                        return searchTree(node.left)
                    };
                } else if (value > node.value) {
                    if (node.right == null) {
                        node.right = new Node(value);
                        return;
                    } else if (node.right != null) {
                        return searchTree(node.right);
                    };
                } else {
                    return null;
                };
            };
            return searchTree(node);
        };
    },
    inorder: function() {
        if (this.root == null) {
          return null;
        } else {
          var result = new Array();
          function traverseInOrder(node) {
              if (node.left != null) {
                  traverseInOrder(node.left);
              };
              result.push(node.value);
              if (node.right != null) {
                  traverseInOrder(node.right);
              };
          }
          traverseInOrder(this.root);
          return result;
        };
    },    
    isBinarySearchTree() {
        if (this.root == null) {
            return null;
        } else {
            var check = true;
            function checkTree(node) {
                if (node.left != null) {
                    var left = node.left;
                    if (left.value > node.value) {
                        check = false;
                    } else {
                        checkTree(left);
                    }
                }
                if (node.right != null) {
                    var right = node.right;
                    if (right.value < node.value) {
                        check = false;
                    } else {
                        checkTree(right);
                    };
                };
            };
            checkTree(this.root);
            return check;
        }
    }
};

Solution

// solution required