26 June | 2462. Total Cost to Hire K Workers.cpp

class Solution {
public:
    long long totalCost(vector<int>& costs, int k, int candidates) {
        int i = 0; 
        int j = costs.size() - 1;
        priority_queue<int, vector<int>, greater<int>> pq1;
        priority_queue<int, vector<int>, greater<int>> pq2;

        long long ans = 0;
        while(k--){
            while(pq1.size() < candidates && i <= j){
                pq1.push(costs[i++]);
            }
            while(pq2.size() < candidates && i <= j){
                pq2.push(costs[j--]);
            }
            int t1 = pq1.size() > 0 ? pq1.top() : INT_MAX;
            int t2 = pq2.size() > 0 ? pq2.top() : INT_MAX;
            
            if(t1 <= t2){
                ans += t1;
                pq1.pop();
            }
            else{
                ans += t2;
                pq2.pop();
            }
        }
        return ans;
    }
};