Hot100: Subsets (Backtracking / startIndex ACERS Guide)
Subtitle / Summary Subsets is the cleanest entry point into Hot100 backtracking. The main thing to stabilize is not “enumerate everything”, but the three invariants behind the template: path, startIndex, and “every node is already a valid answer”. Reading time: 10-12 min Tags: Hot100, backtracking, subsets, DFS SEO keywords: Subsets, backtracking, startIndex, power set, LeetCode 78 Meta description: Learn the stable backtracking template for LeetCode 78, with engineering analogies, pitfalls, and runnable multi-language solutions. Target Readers Hot100 learners starting the backtracking block today Developers who can write DFS but still mix up combinations and permutations Engineers who need to enumerate feature sets, candidate policies, or configuration bundles Background / Motivation Many “real” problems reduce to a subset model: ...