Leetcode: Flatten Nested List Iterator

## https://code.dennyzhang.com/flatten-nested-list-iterator
## Basic Ideas:
##            Since it's an iterator, we can't change existing list
##            Here we assume, we don't have empty values like this: [1, 2, [], [2, 3]]
##
##            l1: list of original input
##            index: index of original list
##            l2: list to cache the embeded data
##
##            next:
##               If l2 is empty, get one element from l1. And move index to next
##                  If the element is an integer, return
##                  If not, get the very first element. And insert the rest to l2
##                       Watch out: [[[[1, 2], [3], 4], 5], 6]
##               If l2 is not empty, do the same like above
##
##             has_next:
##                If l2 is not empty, return False
##                Otherwise return index != len(l1)
##
## Complexity:
# """
# This is the interface that allows for creating nested lists.
# You should not implement it, or speculate about its implementation
# """
#class NestedInteger(object):
#    def isInteger(self):
#        """
#        @return True if this NestedInteger holds a single integer, rather than a nested list.
#        :rtype bool
#        """
#
#    def getInteger(self):
#        """
#        @return the single integer that this NestedInteger holds, if it holds a single integer
#        Return None if this NestedInteger holds a nested list
#        :rtype int
#        """
#
#    def getList(self):
#        """
#        @return the nested list that this NestedInteger holds, if it holds a nested list
#        Return None if this NestedInteger holds a single integer
#        :rtype List[NestedInteger]
#        """

import copy
class NestedIterator(object):

    def __init__(self, nestedList):
        """
        Initialize your data structure here.
        :type nestedList: List[NestedInteger]
        """
        self.l1 = nestedList
        self.index = 0
        self.l2 = []

    def next(self):
        """
        :rtype: int
        """
        if len(self.l2) != 0:
            node = self.l2[0]
            del self.l2[0]
            (first, rest) = self.getFirst(node)
            if rest: self.l2.insert(0, rest)
        else:
            node = self.l1[self.index]
            self.index += 1
            (first, rest) = self.getFirst(node)
            if rest: self.l2.append(rest)
        return first

    def getFirst(self, node):
        p = copy.deepcopy(node)

        q, parent_list = p, []
        while True:
            # q may be: list or NestedInteger
            if type(q) == list:
                parent_list.append(q)
                q = q[0]
            elif q.isInteger():
                break
            else:
                item = q.getList()
                parent_list.append(item)
                q = item[0]

        first_val = q.getInteger()
        if len(parent_list) != 0:
            del parent_list[-1][0]

        # delete empty element at the head
        for i in range(len(parent_list)-1, -1, -1):
            l = parent_list[i]
            if len(l) != 0 and l[0] == []:
                del l[0]

        if len(parent_list) != 0:
            rest = parent_list[0]
            # change [item] to item
            if len(rest) == 1:
                return (first_val, rest[0])
            else:
                return (first_val, rest)
        else:
            return (first_val, None)

    def hasNext(self):
        """
        :rtype: bool
        """
        if len(self.l2) == 0 and self.index == len(self.l1):
            return False
        else:
            return True

# Your NestedIterator object will be instantiated and called as such:
# i, v = NestedIterator(nestedList), []
# while i.hasNext(): v.append(i.next())