Refactor CombinationSum for better handling and clarity

Updated combinationSum method to handle null or empty candidates and improved variable naming for clarity.

Author: Avaneeshakrishna

src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/backtracking/CombinationSum.java

@@ -6,26 +6,44 @@
 
 /** Backtracking: pick/not-pick with reuse of candidates. */
 public class CombinationSum {
+    private CombinationSum() {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Utility class");
+}
+
+   public static List<List<Integer>> combinationSum(int[] candidates, int target) {
+        List<List<Integer>> results = new ArrayList<>();
+        if (candidates == null || candidates.length == 0) {
+            return results;
+        }
 
-    public static List<List<Integer>> combinationSum(int[] candidates, int target) {
-        Arrays.sort(candidates); // helps pruning
-        List<List<Integer>> res = new ArrayList<>();
-        backtrack(candidates, target, 0, new ArrayList<>(), res);
-        return res;
-        // Note: result order is not guaranteed; compare sorted in tests if needed
+        // Sort to help with pruning duplicates and early termination
+        Arrays.sort(candidates);
+        backtrack(candidates, target, 0, new ArrayList<>(), results);
+        return results;
     }
 
-    private static void backtrack(int[] nums, int remain, int start, List<Integer> path, List<List<Integer>> res) {
-        if (remain == 0) {
-            res.add(new ArrayList<>(path));
+    private static void backtrack(int[] candidates, int remaining, int start,
+                                  List<Integer> combination, List<List<Integer>> results) {
+        if (remaining == 0) {
+            // Found valid combination; add a copy
+            results.add(new ArrayList<>(combination));
             return;
         }
-        for (int i = start; i < nums.length; i++) {
-            int val = nums[i];
-            if (val > remain) break; // prune
-            path.add(val);
-            backtrack(nums, remain - val, i, path, res); // i (reuse allowed)
-            path.remove(path.size() - 1);
+
+        for (int i = start; i < candidates.length; i++) {
+            int candidate = candidates[i];
+
+            // If candidate is greater than remaining target, further candidates (sorted) will also be too big
+            if (candidate > remaining) {
+                break;
+            }
+
+            // include candidate
+            combination.add(candidate);
+            // Because we can reuse the same element, we pass i (not i + 1)
+            backtrack(candidates, remaining - candidate, i, combination, results);
+            // backtrack: remove last
+            combination.remove(combination.size() - 1);
         }
     }
 }