I've seen the "better" version a few times before. I wrote something equivalent from first principles. It is NOT better. It is much more difficult to underst

I've seen the "better" version a few times before. I wrote something equivalent from first principles. It is NOT better. It is much more difficult to understand. Software engineering is about making the code intelligible for the people who follow you. The simple two pointer with conditional is MUCH easier to read and understand.