fix(huffman): Handle edge cases and improve error handling (TheAlgorithms#912)

* fix(huffman): Handle edge cases and improve error handling

- Change HuffmanDictionary::new() to return Option<Self> for safer API
- Add proper handling for empty alphabet (returns None)
- Add special case handling for single-symbol alphabets
- Replace unwrap() calls with ? operator in decode() for better error handling
- Add #[inline(always)] optimization for frequently called get_bit()
- Add comprehensive tests for edge cases
- Improve documentation with usage examples

BREAKING CHANGE: HuffmanDictionary::new() now returns Option<Self>

* Test: Increase coverage for huffman_encoding.rs decode method

Adds two new test cases to ensure 100% patch coverage for HuffmanEncoding::decode:
1. test_decode_empty_encoding_struct: Covers the edge case where num_bits == 0.
2. minimal_decode_end_check: Ensures the final 'if self.num_bits > 0' check in the multi-symbol decode path is fully covered.

Corrects 'char-lit-as-u8' and 'unnecessary-cast' lints in the newly added coverage tests to satisfy GitHub Actions.

Author: jesper-olsen

src/general/huffman_encoding.rs

@@ -77,10 +77,50 @@ pub struct HuffmanDictionary<T> {
 }
 
 impl<T: Clone + Copy + Ord> HuffmanDictionary<T> {
-    /// The list of alphabet symbols and their respective frequency should
-    /// be given as input
-    pub fn new(alphabet: &[(T, u64)]) -> Self {
+    /// Creates a new Huffman dictionary from alphabet symbols and their frequencies.
+    ///
+    /// Returns `None` if the alphabet is empty.
+    ///
+    /// # Arguments
+    /// * `alphabet` - A slice of tuples containing symbols and their frequencies
+    ///
+    /// # Example
+    /// ```
+    /// # use the_algorithms_rust::general::HuffmanDictionary;
+    /// let freq = vec![('a', 5), ('b', 2), ('c', 1)];
+    /// let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
+    ///
+    pub fn new(alphabet: &[(T, u64)]) -> Option<Self> {
+        if alphabet.is_empty() {
+            return None;
+        }
+
         let mut alph: BTreeMap<T, HuffmanValue> = BTreeMap::new();
+
+        // Special case: single symbol
+        if alphabet.len() == 1 {
+            let (symbol, _freq) = alphabet[0];
+            alph.insert(
+                symbol,
+                HuffmanValue {
+                    value: 0,
+                    bits: 1, // Must use at least 1 bit per symbol
+                },
+            );
+
+            let root = HuffmanNode {
+                left: None,
+                right: None,
+                symbol: Some(symbol),
+                frequency: alphabet[0].1,
+            };
+
+            return Some(HuffmanDictionary {
+                alphabet: alph,
+                root,
+            });
+        }
+
         let mut queue: BinaryHeap<HuffmanNode<T>> = BinaryHeap::new();
         for (symbol, freq) in alphabet.iter() {
             queue.push(HuffmanNode {
@@ -101,11 +141,14 @@ impl<T: Clone + Copy + Ord> HuffmanDictionary<T> {
                 frequency: sm_freq,
             });
         }
-        let root = queue.pop().unwrap();
-        HuffmanNode::get_alphabet(0, 0, &root, &mut alph);
-        HuffmanDictionary {
-            alphabet: alph,
-            root,
+        if let Some(root) = queue.pop() {
+            HuffmanNode::get_alphabet(0, 0, &root, &mut alph);
+            Some(HuffmanDictionary {
+                alphabet: alph,
+                root,
+            })
+        } else {
+            None
         }
     }
     pub fn encode(&self, data: &[T]) -> HuffmanEncoding {
@@ -143,27 +186,48 @@ impl HuffmanEncoding {
         }
         self.num_bits += data.bits as u64;
     }
+
+    #[inline]
     fn get_bit(&self, pos: u64) -> bool {
         (self.data[(pos >> 6) as usize] & (1 << (pos & 63))) != 0
     }
+
     /// In case the encoding is invalid, `None` is returned
     pub fn decode<T: Clone + Copy + Ord>(&self, dict: &HuffmanDictionary<T>) -> Option<Vec<T>> {
+        // Handle empty encoding
+        if self.num_bits == 0 {
+            return Some(vec![]);
+        }
+
+        // Special case: single symbol in dictionary
+        if dict.alphabet.len() == 1 {
+            //all bits represent the same symbol
+            let symbol = dict.alphabet.keys().next()?;
+            let result = vec![*symbol; self.num_bits as usize];
+            return Some(result);
+        }
+
+        // Normal case: multiple symbols
         let mut state = &dict.root;
         let mut result: Vec<T> = vec![];
+
         for i in 0..self.num_bits {
-            if state.symbol.is_some() {
-                result.push(state.symbol.unwrap());
+            if let Some(symbol) = state.symbol {
+                result.push(symbol);
                 state = &dict.root;
             }
             state = if self.get_bit(i) {
-                state.right.as_ref().unwrap()
+                state.right.as_ref()?
             } else {
-                state.left.as_ref().unwrap()
+                state.left.as_ref()?
             }
         }
+
+        // Check if we ended on a symbol
         if self.num_bits > 0 {
             result.push(state.symbol?);
         }
+
         Some(result)
     }
 }
@@ -181,12 +245,97 @@ mod tests {
             .for_each(|(b, &cnt)| result.push((b as u8, cnt)));
         result
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn empty_text() {
+        let text = "";
+        let bytes = text.as_bytes();
+        let freq = get_frequency(bytes);
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq);
+        assert!(dict.is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn one_symbol_text() {
+        let text = "aaaa";
+        let bytes = text.as_bytes();
+        let freq = get_frequency(bytes);
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
+        let encoded = dict.encode(bytes);
+        assert_eq!(encoded.num_bits, 4);
+        let decoded = encoded.decode(&dict).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(decoded, bytes);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_decode_empty_encoding_struct() {
+        // Create a minimal but VALID HuffmanDictionary.
+        // This is required because decode() expects a dictionary, even though
+        // the content of the dictionary doesn't matter when num_bits == 0.
+        let freq = vec![(b'a', 1)];
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
+
+        // Manually create the target state: an encoding with 0 bits.
+        let empty_encoding = HuffmanEncoding {
+            data: vec![],
+            num_bits: 0,
+        };
+
+        let result = empty_encoding.decode(&dict);
+
+        assert_eq!(result, Some(vec![]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn minimal_decode_end_check() {
+        let freq = vec![(b'a', 1), (b'b', 1)];
+        let bytes = b"ab";
+
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
+        let encoded = dict.encode(bytes);
+
+        // This decode will go through the main loop and hit the final 'if self.num_bits > 0' check.
+        let decoded = encoded.decode(&dict).unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(decoded, bytes);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_decode_corrupted_stream_dead_end() {
+        // Create a dictionary with three symbols to ensure a deeper tree.
+        // This makes hitting a dead-end (None pointer) easier.
+        let freq = vec![(b'a', 1), (b'b', 1), (b'c', 1)];
+        let bytes = b"ab";
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
+
+        let encoded = dict.encode(bytes);
+
+        // Manually corrupt the stream to stop mid-symbol.
+        // We will truncate num_bits by a small amount (e.g., 1 bit).
+        // This forces the loop to stop on an *intermediate* node.
+        let corrupted_encoding = HuffmanEncoding {
+            data: encoded.data,
+            // Shorten the bit count by one. The total length of the 'ab' stream
+            // is likely 4 or 5 bits. This forces the loop to end one bit early,
+            // leaving the state on an internal node.
+            num_bits: encoded
+                .num_bits
+                .checked_sub(1)
+                .expect("Encoding should be > 0 bits"),
+        };
+
+        // Assert that the decode fails gracefully.
+        // The loop finishes, the final 'if self.num_bits > 0' executes,
+        // and result.push(state.symbol?) fails because state.symbol is None.
+        assert_eq!(corrupted_encoding.decode(&dict), None);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn small_text() {
         let text = "Hello world";
         let bytes = text.as_bytes();
         let freq = get_frequency(bytes);
-        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq);
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
         let encoded = dict.encode(bytes);
         assert_eq!(encoded.num_bits, 32);
         let decoded = encoded.decode(&dict).unwrap();
@@ -208,7 +357,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
         let bytes = text.as_bytes();
         let freq = get_frequency(bytes);
-        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq);
+        let dict = HuffmanDictionary::new(&freq).unwrap();
         let encoded = dict.encode(bytes);
         assert_eq!(encoded.num_bits, 2372);
         let decoded = encoded.decode(&dict).unwrap();