Iterating over a Binary Tree with O(1) Auxiliary Space

Question

Is it possible to iterate over a binary tree in O(1) auxiliary space (w/o using a stack, queue, etc.), or has this been proven impossible? If it is possible, how can it be

Answer 1

Geez, I'll have to actually type it up from Knuth. This solution is by Joseph M. Morris [Inf. Proc. Letters 9 (1979), 197-200]. As far as I can tell, it runs in O(NlogN) time.

static void VisitInO1Memory (Node root, Action preorderVisitor) {
  Node parent = root ;
  Node right  = null ;
  Node curr ;
  while (parent != null) {
    curr = parent.left ;
    if (curr != null) {
      // search for thread
      while (curr != right && curr.right != null)
        curr = curr.right ;

      if (curr != right) {
        // insert thread
        assert curr.right == null ;
        curr.right = parent ;
        preorderVisitor (parent) ;
        parent = parent.left ;
        continue ;
      } else
        // remove thread, left subtree of P already traversed
        // this restores the node to original state
        curr.right = null ;
    } else
      preorderVisitor (parent) ;

    right  = parent ;
    parent = parent.right ;
  }
}

class Node
{
  public Node left  ;
  public Node right ;
}