Generating 2-Gray codes for ballot sequences in constant amortized time

Abstract

We present a simple algorithm that generates a cyclic 2-Gray code for ballot sequences. The algorithm generates each ballot sequence in constant amortized time using a linear amount of space. This is the first known cyclic 2-Gray code for ballot sequences that achieves this time bound. In addition, the algorithm can be easily modified to output ballot sequences in binary reflected Gray code order in constant amortized time per string using a linear amount of space.