Things Not To Do with Binary Trees in C Programming

Do Not Ignore Tree Balancing For BSTs



For binary search trees (BSTs), balancing the tree is crucial for maintaining efficient operations. Neglecting to balance a BST can degrade its performance to O(n) in the worst case.

Do Not Forget To Update Parent Links In AVL Trees



When performing rotations in AVL trees, it's crucial to update the parent links for all affected nodes to maintain the integrity of the tree structure.

Do Not Use Inappropriate Traversal For The Task



Different tree traversals (inorder, preorder, postorder) serve different purposes. Choosing the wrong traversal can lead to inefficient operations or incorrect results for the given task.

Do Not Neglect To Check For NULL On Node Deletion



When deleting a node, always check if the node exists (i.e., is not NULL) to avoid dereferencing NULL, which leads to undefined behavior.

Do Not Disregard Leaf Nodes In Recursive Functions



In recursive tree functions, ensure that leaf nodes are correctly handled to prevent incorrect computations or infinite recursion.

Do Not Assume Binary Trees Are Balanced By Default



Binary trees, especially BSTs, can become skewed (e.g., degenerate into a linked list) without explicit balancing. This can severely impact performance.