Sliding Window technique helps improve the performance

The Sliding Window technique is a powerful algorithmic strategy used in problems involving arrays or strings. It helps reduce nested loops, making the code more efficient and readable. This blog will walk you through the logic, usage, and coding examples of sliding window, from fixed-size windows to variable-length patterns.

Types of Sliding Window

1. Fixed-Size Sliding Window

In a fixed-size window, the length of the window is constant (e.g., window size = 3). As you move the window, you add the next element and remove the one that slides out.

2. Variable-Size Sliding Window

In this approach, the window size can increase or decrease based on conditions (like total sum, characters matched, etc.).

Advantages of Sliding Window

• Improved Time Complexity: Converts O(n²) solutions to O(n) in many cases.

• Reduced Memory Usage: Efficient space usage, no need for extra storage.

• Simplicity in Code: Clean and readable logic once mastered.

Common Problems Using Sliding Window

• Maximum sum subarray of size k

• Longest substring without repeating characters

• Minimum size subarray sum

• Count of anagrams in a string