Hello guys.
I was trying the problem https://codeforces.com/contest/182/problem/D
The intended complexity of my solution is supposed to be $$$O(n\sqrt{n})$$$ but somehow I was repeatedly getting TLE. When I switched the concerned part where I was using + for concatenation of two strings with append it got accepted.
I went over to stackoverflow for figuring out the cause but I couldn't understand much of it besides trying the reserve keyword. I also tried using the reserve keyword for reserving space for the string but it resulted in TLE as well.
Here are my submissions:-
https://codeforces.com/contest/182/submission/82678284 -Using append.
https://codeforces.com/contest/182/submission/82677975 -Using + for concatenation.
Using temp1=temp1+temp2 takes O(n) as it copies the first string, adds the second to it and then stores it back in first Edit: Someone please correct me in the comments if I am wrong
It's probably O(n) for a single operation but repeating it over and over seems to tend towards higher complexity. (Otherwise my code would have gotten accepted)
I think so..
Basically
s=s+tcreates a new object by copy s, then appends t, then moving the result to s.s+=tsimply appends t, without copying s.Thanks
If there are 'n' strings of length 'x' then time complexity of concatenation will be O(x*n^2). Appending gives a linear time complexity.
I ran and got AC with your code by replacing
a=a+bwitha+=b. The runtime difference is strikingly large. The AC submission ran for just 124msYes thanks for your reply. I changed it and it got AC too. Using a+=b; probably prevents creation of the new object as stated above by spookywooky.