new_contents: # Time:  O(n), n is the length of the source
  # Space: O(k), k is the max length of a line.
  
  # Given a C++ program, remove comments from it.
  # The program source is an array where source[i] is the i-th line of the source code.
  # This represents the result of splitting the original source code string by the newline character \n.
  #
  # In C++, there are two types of comments, line comments, and block comments.
  #
  # The string // denotes a line comment, which represents that it and
  # rest of the characters to the right of it in the same line should be ignored.
  #
  # The string /* denotes a block comment,
  # which represents that all characters until the next (non-overlapping) occurrence of */ 
  # should be ignored. (Here, occurrences happen in reading order: line by line from left to right.) 
  # To be clear, the string /*/ does not yet end the block comment, as the ending would be overlapping the beginning.
  #
  # The first effective comment takes precedence over others:
  # if the string // occurs in a block comment, it is ignored.
  # Similarly, if the string /* occurs in a line or block comment, it is also ignored.
  #
  # If a certain line of code is empty after removing comments, 
  # you must not output that line: each string in the answer list will be non-empty.
  #
  # There will be no control characters, single quote, or double quote characters.
  # For example, source = "string s = "/* Not a comment. */";" will not be a test case.
  # (Also, nothing else such as defines or macros will interfere with the comments.)
  #
  # It is guaranteed that every open block comment will eventually be closed,
  # so /* outside of a line or block comment always starts a new comment.
  #
  # Finally, implicit newline characters can be deleted by block comments. Please see the examples below for details.
  #
  # After removing the comments from the source code, return the source code in the same format.
  #
  # Example 1:
  # Input: 
  # source = ["/*Test program */", "int main()", "{ ", "  // variable declaration ", "int a, b, c;", "/* This is a test", "   multiline  ", "   comment for ", "   testing */", "a = b + c;", "}"]
  #
  # The line by line code is visualized as below:
  # /*Test program */
  # int main()
  # { 
  #   // variable declaration 
  # int a, b, c;
  # /* This is a test
  #    multiline  
  #    comment for 
  #    testing */
  # a = b + c;
  # }
  #
  # Output: ["int main()","{ ","  ","int a, b, c;","a = b + c;","}"]
  #
  # The line by line code is visualized as below:
  # int main()
  # { 
  # int a, b, c;
  # a = b + c;
  # }
  # Explanation: 
  # The string 
  # /*
  #  denotes a block comment, including line 1 and lines 6-9. The string 
  # //
  #  denotes line 4 as comments.
  #
  # Example 2:
  # Input: 
  # source = ["a/*comment", "line", "more_comment*/b"]
  # Output: ["ab"]
  # Explanation: The original source string is "a/*comment\nline\nmore_comment*/b",
  #     where we have bolded the newline characters.
  #     After deletion, the implicit newline characters are deleted,
  #     leaving the string "ab", which when delimited by newline characters becomes ["ab"].
  #
  # Note:
  # - The length of source is in the range [1, 100].
  # - The length of source[i] is in the range [0, 80].
  # - Every open block comment is eventually closed.
  # - There are no single-quote, double-quote, or control characters in the source code.
  
  class Solution(object):
      def removeComments(self, source):
          """
          :type source: List[str]
          :rtype: List[str]
          """
          in_block = False
          result = []
          for line in source:
              i = 0
              if not in_block:
                  newline = []
              while i < len(line):
                  if line[i:i+2] == '/*' and not in_block:
                      in_block = True
                      i += 1
                  elif line[i:i+2] == '*/' and in_block:
                      in_block = False
                      i += 1
                  elif not in_block and line[i:i+2] == '//':
                      break
                  elif not in_block:
                      newline.append(line[i])
                  i += 1
              if newline and not in_block:
                  result.append("".join(newline))
  
          return result
  
subject: Create remove-comments.py