class Solution:
    def removeDuplicates(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:

        # since the array is already sorted we can get away by not using a map
        # also a blunder was made where the unique_tracker was started from 0
        # since it followed a particular pattern that you did in the last question
        unique_tracker = 1
        for i in range(1, len(nums)):
            if nums[i] != nums[i-1]:
                nums[unique_tracker] = nums[i]
                unique_tracker += 1

        return unique_tracker