271. encode and decode strings

Design an algorithm to encode a list of strings to a string. The encoded string is then sent over the network and is decoded back to the original list of strings.

Machine 1 (sender) has the function:

string encode(vector<string> strs) {
  // ... your code
  return encoded_string;
}

Machine 2 (receiver) has the function:

vector<string> decode(string s) {
  //... your code
  return strs;
}

So Machine 1 does:

string encoded_string = encode(strs);

and Machine 2 does:

vector<string> strs2 = decode(encoded_string);

strs2 in Machine 2 should be the same as strs in Machine 1.

Implement the encode and decode methods.

You are not allowed to solve the problem using any serialize methods (such as eval).

solutions

non-ascii delimiter

class Codec:
    def encode(self, strs: List[str]) -> str:
        """Encodes a list of strings to a single string.
        """
        return "\U0001f600".join(strs)
        
 
    def decode(self, s: str) -> List[str]:
        """Decodes a single string to a list of strings.
        """
        return s.split("\U0001f600") 

• i just used the smile emoji lol.

chunked transfer encoding

• for each string, compute its length, and append a four character number in front of it in the encoded string.
• fairly easy and straightforward to decode this.