SanketandStrings

i cannot understand how to approach this question found a code on geek for geeks but couldn’t understand it

You can solve this problem in O(n) time using the two pointer approach.

  • Make two variabes , say i and j .
  • i defines the beginning of a window and j defines its end.
  • Start i from 0 and j from k.
  • Let’s talk about the singular case when we are considering the max window for only 'a’s and consider only the swapping of b-> a. If we are able to get the answer for max window of consecutive 'a’s , we can simply implement the same algo for the max ‘b’ window as well.
  • So we started i from 0 and j from k.
  • Move j ahead freely as long as there are ‘a’ characters at s[ j ] position.
  • Maintain a count variable which counts the number of swaps made or the number of 'b’s in our A window.
  • If you encounter a ‘b’ char at s[ j ] position , increment the count variable. Count should never exceed k .
  • Take the size of the window at every point using length = j - i + 1;
  • Compute the max size window this way and do the same for ‘b’ as well.
  • Output the maximum size window of ‘a’ and ‘b’.

refer to the editorial on hacker block for the same
well commented code is provided
https://hack.codingblocks.com/app/contests/1128/446/problem