Vocabulary

Abstract

With precise vocabulary, you can clearly express what you mean and describe algorithms in just a few words.

On the other hand, when you lack precise vocabulary, explaining what a program does and how it does it is really painful.

Below, I list the words used in AI answers for the 48 problems in LeetCode Top Easy.

Verbs¶

Reading / writing / accessing¶

access
read
write
store
copy
assign
append
prepend
fill
open
return
get
give
show

Building / creating / implementing¶

build
construct
create
make
form
generate
implement
code
initialize
introduce
rebuild
derive

Modifying / updating / transforming¶

change
update
modify
mutate
overwrite
replace
reset
convert
turn
reverse
rotate
shift
augment
extend
fix

Moving / traversing / positioning¶

advance
move
walk
reach
cross
point
place
start
stop
continue
stay
leave
run

Linking / rewiring nodes¶

attach
link
splice
unlink
rewire
bypass
rebind
merge
mix

Arithmetic / counting bit / operations¶

add
subtract
sum
count
compute
increment
decrement
divide
xor
clamp
carry

Comparison / detection / matching¶

compare
check
detect
find
search
scan
look
match
mirror
differ
distinguish
recognize
notice
validate
test
meet

Selection / decision / control¶

choose
pick
take
allow
accept
reject
force
enforce
need
expect
default
handle
try
solve

Thinking / understanding / reasoning¶

know
think
understand
mean
see
exploit
use

Preserving / tracking state¶

keep
maintain
preserve
save
track
hold
contain
exist
guarantee
care
reuse

Simplifying / avoiding / reducing¶

reduce
minimize
avoid
ignore
skip
cancel

Failure / mistake / edge behavior¶

break
fail
crash
mishandle
misread
miss
forget
lose
violate
waste
hide
exceed
behave

Parsing / processing / iteration¶

parse
process
iterate
loop
repeat
sort
slice
hardcode
reimplement
recompute
overcomplicate

Stack / collection actions¶

push
pop
set
remove
delete
consume
mark
isolate

Finance / game scenario actions¶

buy
sell
trade
rob

State or result changes¶

become
end
hit
reward

Adverds¶

Time / order / sequence¶

already
early
first
immediately
later
once
soon
still
yet

Direction / position¶

anywhere
back
backward
far
left
right

Manner / quality¶

cleanly
directly
differently
incorrectly
incrementally
independently
manually
naturally
poorly
uniformly

Emphasis / precision / degree¶

actually
especially
exactly
explicitly
only
strictly
too
less
more
equally

Contrast / alternative¶

instead
otherwise

Accident / unexpectedness / unnecessariness¶

accidentally
unexpectedly
unnecessarily

Negation / limitation¶

never

Simultaneity / repetition¶

simultaneously
together
twice

Nouns¶

Programming / data structures¶

array
list
dict
set
stack
queue
hash
hash-map
hash-set
counter
map
matrix
table
cache
lookup
object
structure
data

Code / language / API identifiers¶

api
code
syntax
python
unicode
leetcode
helper
version
function
input
output
int
len
nums
nums1
nums2
list1
list2
val
rev
cur
prev
prev1
prev2
getmin
null
none
true
false

Algorithms / methods / patterns¶

algorithm
approach
solution
brute force
pattern
trick
idea
recurrence
recursion
memoization
dp
bfs
traversal
search
scan
iteration
loop
preprocessing
marking
manipulation
compaction
construction
decomposition
reduction
detection
modeling
boundary-search
bit-manipulation

Complexity / resources / requirements¶

complexity
time
space
memory
storage
requirement
constraint
bounds
limit
optimization
awareness

Positions / boundaries / geometry¶

access
index
indexing
position
boundary
prefix
suffix
front
end
left
right
center
middle
side
row
column
box
cell
layer
frontier
gap
range
length
height
depth
edge

Numbers / math / bits¶

number
integer
digit
zero
zeroes
bit
bit-count
popcount
mask
sign
symbol
formula
sum
power
prime
primality
division
divisibility
modulo
log
fibonacci
eratosthenes
sieve
precision

Comparison / logic / invariants¶

comparison
condition
rule
invariant
property
identity
difference
mismatch
match
pair
occurrence
frequency
frequency-count
count
membership
intersection
multiset

State / mutation / pointer / control¶

state
pointer
mutation
update
reassignment
operation
move
swap
reset
delete
check
find
call

Linked list concepts¶

node
head
tail
linked-list
dummy-node
pointer
reassignment

Tree / graph / hierarchy concepts¶

tree
subtree
root
child
ancestor
bfs
queue
frontier
depth
edge
symmetry
traversal

String / character / parsing¶

string
substring
character
char
letter
alphabet
punctuation
regex
parser
format
haystack
needle

Errors / cases / traps¶

bug
error
mistake
case
edge-case
assumption

Interview problem / learning¶

question
problem
interview
follow-up
exercise
skill
practice
example

Results / answers / outputs¶

answer
result
output
order
ordering
shape
balance
clarity
comfort

Finance / trading / game scenarios¶

price
profit
transaction
stock
trading
buy
sell
gain
house
stair
path
possibility

Collections / members / elements¶

element
entry
tuple
copy
occurrence
pair
row
column

Algorithms by named problem area¶

kadane
fisher-yates
floyd
sudoku
bst

Miscellaneous contextual nouns¶

angle
base
behavior
caller
candidate
carry
choice
door
fly
force
front
hack
house
language
machine
maximum
minimum
noise
part
propagation
punctuation
round
sell
shuffle
simulation
speed
statement
step
target
top
transform
transition
trial
value
variable
view
work
xor

Adjective¶

Size / amount / extent¶

all-negative
basic
few
full
huge
larger
largest
long
many
multiple
single
small
smaller
shortest
tiny
whole
one-element
single-element

Emptiness / presence / uniqueness¶

empty
non-empty
missing
available
existing
remaining
unique
visited
filled

Difficulty / quality / correctness¶

acceptable
awkward
bad
better
careful
clean
cleanest
correct
easy
good
hard-looking
important
interesting
optimal
practical
tricky
unnecessary
useless
valid
wrong

Simplicity / complexity / style¶

classic
common
compact
complex
direct
exact
frequent
intended
ordinary
portable
possible
simple
simple-looking

Time / order / sequence / state¶

current
early
first
last
next
previous
processed
pushed
repeated
saved
second
stored
unread
unmerged

Position / direction / boundary¶

backward
closing
edge
element-by-element
flat
geometric
in-place
inner
leading
left
positional
reversed
right
right-to-left
trailing
upward

Numeric / bit math properties¶

1-pass
2-pass
2d
32-bit
3x3
64-bit
associative
binary
bitwise
commutative
decreasing
double
even
even-length
exponential
fixed
fixed-width
floating-point
infinite-sign-bit
integer
lowest
negative
near-equal
non-prime
odd
odd-length
odd-size
positive
shifted
signed
strict
subtractive
two
two-pass

Algorithmic / programming / method¶

brute-force
built-in
case-insensitive
dynamic
fast
greedy
hash-set
iterative
language-aware
linear
linear-time
naive
random
recursive
rolling
slow
uniform

Data structure specific¶

dummy
dummy-node
linked
linked-list
lowercase
non-alphanumeric
non-zero
shallow
singly
sorted

Mutation / memory / storage¶

actual
constant
extra
fresh
global
guaranteed
local
mutated
new
original
raw
real
same
stable
unchanged

Expectation / truth / logic¶

combined
different
expected
false
irrelevant
main
overlapping
seeming
true

Error / risk / edge cases¶

off-by-one
unsafe

Interview context¶

core
grouped
interview-friendly

Domain specific¶

contiguous
day-to-day
free