Codility Binary Gap Exercise

[deanhystad]

The solution for trailing zeros is actually contained in the description of binary gap; contiguous zeros surrounded by ones. So a gap will be preceded and followed by a 1.

set gap count and max gap to zero
set saw_one to False.
while number is greater than zero
    if number is odd this is the end of a gap.
        if saw_one
            Check if this was largest gap
        set gap count to zero
        set saw_one to True
    else 
        increment gap count
    shift number right

You have all the parts, but your logic on what to do when you see a 1 is a bit off. I see no reason to build a list of zeros and ones and then count using the list. Get rid of the list and count the zeros in the code that is getting the bits.