[Download] Cracking The Coding Interview

293 Pages·1.94 MB·English

by  Mr Kotiyana

FOURTH
CRACKING THE
EDITION
G
Gayle Laakmann founded CareerCup com in
CA C O D I N G
2005 to provide technical interview coaching AY
RL
for software engineers As a Software Engineer
EE
at Microsoft, Apple and Google, she interviewed ER L
over one hundred and twenty applicants in CA
three countries UA
PK I N T E R V I E W
She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in .CM
OA
Computer Science from the University of Penn-
MN
sylvania
N
Now in the 4th edition, Cracking the Coding Interview gives you the interview prepara- C 150 programming interview questions and solutions
tion you need to get the top software developer jobs This book provides: R Plus:
A
• 150 Programming Interview Questions and Solutions C • Five proven approaches to solving tough algorithm questions
From binary trees to binary search, this list of 150 questions includes the most K
• Ten mistakes candidates make -- and how to avoid them
common and most useful questions in data structures, algorithms, and knowledge I
N
based questions • Steps to prepare for behavioral and technical questions
G
• Interviewer war stories: a view from the interviewer’s side

• Five Proven Approaches to Solving Tough Algorithm Questions T
Using these fi ve approaches to solving algorithm questions, you can conquer H
tough interview questions and impress your interviewer E

C
• Ten Mistakes Candidates Make -- And How to Avoid Them O
Don’t lose your dream job by making these common mistakes Learn what many D
candidates do wrong, and how to avoid these issues
I
N
• Steps to Prepare for Behavioral and Technical Questions G
Stop meandering through an endless set of questions, while missing some of the
I
most important preparation techniques Follow these steps to more thoroughly N
prepare in less time T
E
R
• Interview War Stories: A View from the Interviewer’s Side
V
Humorous but instructive stories from our interviewers show you how some can-
I
E
didates really fl opped on the most important question - and how you can avoid
W
doing the same
GAYLE LAAKMANN
Founder and CEO, CareerCup.com
Table of Contents
Foreword 4
Introduction 5
Behind the Scenes 7
The Microsoft Interview 8
The Amazon Interview 9
The Google Interview 10
The Apple Interview 11
The Yahoo Interview 12
Interview War Stories 13
Before the Interview 20
Resume Advice 21
Behavioral Preparation 23
Technical Preparation 25
The Interview and Beyond 28
Handling Behavioral Questions 29
Handling Technical Questions 31
Five Algorithm Approaches 34
The Offer and Beyond 37
Top Ten Mistakes Candidates Make 39
Frequently Asked Questions 41
Interview Questions 44
Data Structures 46
Chapter 1 | Arrays and Strings 47
Chapter 2 | Linked Lists 49
Chapter 3 | Stacks and Queues 51
Chapter 4 | Trees and Graphs 53
Concepts and Algorithms 56
Chapter 5 | Bit Manipulation 57
Chapter 6 | Brain Teasers 59
1 Cracking the Coding Interview
Table of Contents
Chapter 7 | Object Oriented Design 61
Chapter 8 | Recursion 63
Chapter 9 | Sorting and Searching 65
Chapter 10 | Mathematical 67
Chapter 11 | Testing 69
Chapter 12 | System Design and Memory Limits 71
Knowledge Based 74
Chapter 13 | C++ 75
Chapter 14 | Java 77
Chapter 15 | Databases 79
Chapter 16 | Low Level 81
Chapter 17 | Networking 83
Chapter 18 | Threads and Locks 85
Additional Review Problems 88
Chapter 19 | Moderate 89
Chapter 20 | Hard 91
Solutions 94
Index 301
Mock Interviews 303
About the Author 304
CareerCup com 2
Foreword
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 4th edition of Cracking the Coding Interview This volume updates the 3rd
edition with new content and refreshed information Be sure to check out our website, www
careercup com, to connect with other candidates and to discover new resources
For those of you new to technical interviews, the process can seem overwhelming Inter-
viewers throw questions at you, expect you to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot, and
then ask you to write beautiful code on a whiteboard Luckily, everyone else is in the same
boat, and you’re already working hard to prepare Good job!
As you get ready for your interviews, consider these suggestions:
» Write Code on Paper: Most interviewers won’t give you a computer and will instead
expect you to write code on a whiteboard or on paper To simulate this environment, try
answering interview problems by writing code on paper first, and then typing them into
a computer as-is Whiteboard / paper coding is a special skill, which can be mastered
with constant practice
» Know Your Resume: While technical skills are extremely important, that’s no reason to
neglect your own resume Make sure to prepare yourself to give a quick summary of any
project or job you were involved with, and to discuss the hardest and most interesting
problems you encountered along the day
» Don’t Memorize Solutions: While this book offers a representative sample of interview
questions, there are still thousands of interview questions out there Memorizing solu-
tions is not a great use of your time Rather, use this book to explore approaches to
problems, to learn new concepts, and to practice your skills
» Talk Out Loud: Interviewers want to understand how you think and approach prob-
lems, so talk out loud while you’re solving problems Let the interviewer see how you’re
tackling the problem, and they just might guide you as well
And remember -- interviews are hard! In my years of interviewing at Google, I saw some
interviewers ask “easy” questions while others ask harder questions But you know what?
Getting the easy questions doesn’t make it any easier to get the offer Receiving an offer
is not about solving questions flawlessly (very few candidates do!), but rather, it is about
answering questions better than other candidates So don’t stress out when you get a tricky
question - everyone else probably thought it was hard too!
I'm excited for you and for the skills you are going to develop Thorough preparation will give
you a wide range of technical and communication skills It will be well-worth it no matter
where the effort takes you!
Study hard, practice, and good luck!
Gayle Laakmann
CareerCup com 4
Introduction
Something’s Wrong
We walked out of the hiring meeting frustrated, again Of the ten “passable” candidates we
reviewed that day, none would receive offers Were we being too harsh, we wondered?
I, in particular, was disappointed We had rejected one of my candidates A former student
One who I had referred He had a 3 73 GPA from the University of Washington, one of the
best computer science schools in the world, and had done extensive work on open source
projects He was energetic He was creative He worked hard He was sharp He was a true
geek, in all the best ways
But, I had to agree with the rest of the committee: the data wasn’t there Even if my emphatic
recommendation would sway them to reconsider, he would surely get rejected in the later
stages of the hiring process There were just too many red flags
Though the interviewers generally believed that he was quite intelligent, he had struggled
to develop good algorithms Most successful candidates could fly through the first ques-
tion, which was a twist on a well known problem, but he struggled to develop his algorithm
When he came up with one, he failed to consider solutions that optimized for other scenar-
ios Finally, when he began coding, he flew through the code with an initial solution, but it
was riddled with mistakes that he then failed to catch Though he wasn’t the worst candidate
we'd seen by any measure, he was far from meeting “the bar ” Rejected
When he asked for feedback over the phone a couple of weeks later, I struggled with what to
tell him Be smarter? No, I knew he was brilliant Be a better coder? No, his skills were on-par
with some of the best I'd seen
Like many motivated candidates, he had prepared extensively He had read K&R’s classic C
book and he'd reviewed CLRS' famous algorithms textbook He could describe in detail the
myriad of ways of balancing a tree, and he could do things in C that no sane programmer
should ever want to do
I had to tell him the unfortunate truth: those books aren’t enough Academic books prepare
you for fancy research, but they’re not going to help you much in an interview Why? I'll give
you a hint: your interviewers haven’t seen Red-Black Trees since they were in school either
To crack the coding interview, you need to prepare with real interview questions You must
practice on real problems, and learn their patterns
Cracking the Coding Interview is the result of my first-hand experience interviewing at top
companies It is the result of hundreds of conversations with candidates It is the result of the
thousands of candidate- and interviewer- contributed questions And it’s the result of seeing
so many interview questions from so many firms Enclosed in this book are 150 of the best
interview questions, selected from thousands of potential problems
5 Cracking the Coding Interview
Introduction
My Approach
The focus of Cracking the Coding Interview is algorithm, coding and design questions Why?
Because while you can and will be asked behavioral questions, the answers will be as varied
as your resume Likewise, while many firms will ask so-called “trivia” questions (e g , “What is
a virtual function?”), the skills developed through practicing these questions are limited to
very specific bits of knowledge The book will briefly touch on some of these questions, to
show you what they’re like, but I have chosen to allocate space where there’s more to learn
My Passion
Teaching is my passion I love helping people understand new concepts, and giving them
tools so that they can excel in their passions
My first experience “officially” teaching was in college at the University of Pennsylvania, when
I became a teaching assistant for an undergraduate Computer Science course during my
second year I went on to TA for several other courses, and eventually launched my own CS
course at the university focused on “hands-on” skills
As an engineer at Google, training and mentoring “Nooglers” (yes, that’s really what they call
new Google employees!) were some of the things I enjoyed most I went on to use my “20%
time” to teach two Computer Science courses at the University of Washington
Cracking the Coding Interview and CareerCup com reflect my passion for teaching Even
now, you can often find me “hanging out” at CareerCup com, helping users who stop by for
assistance
Join us
Gayle Laakmann
CareerCup com 6
Behind the Scenes
For many candidates, interviewing is a bit of a black box You walk in, you get pounded with
questions from a variety of interviewers, and then somehow or other you return with an of-
fer or not
Have you ever wondered:
» How do decisions get made?
» Do your interviewers talk to each other?
» What does the company really care about?
Well, wonder no more!
CareerCup sought out interviewing experts from five top companies - Microsoft, Google,
Amazon, Yahoo and Apple - to show you what really happens “behind the scenes ” These
experts will walk us through a typical interview day and describe what’s taking place outside
of the interviewing room, and what happens after you leave
Our interviewing experts also told us what’s different about their interview process From bar
raisers (Amazon) to Hiring Committees (Google), each company has its own quirks Knowing
these idiosyncrasies will help you to react better to a super-tough interviewer, or to avoid
being intimidated when two interviewers show up at the door (Apple!)
In addition, our specialists offered insight as to what their company stresses in their inter-
views While almost all software firms care about coding and algorithms, some companies
focus more than others on specific aspects of the interview Whether this is because of the
company’s technology or its history, now you'll know what and how to prepare
So, join us as we take you behind the scenes at Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Yahoo and Ap-
ple
7 Cracking the Coding Interview
Behind the Scenes | The Microsoft Interview
Microsoft wants smart people Geeks People who are passionate about technology You
probably won’t be tested on the ins and outs of C++ APIs, but you will be expected to write
code on the board
In a typical interview, you'll show up at Microsoft at some time in the morning and fill out
initial paper work You'll have a short interview with a recruiter where he or she will give you
a sample question Your recruiter is usually there to prep you, and not to grill you on techni-
cal questions Be nice to your recruiter Your recruiter can be your biggest advocate, even
pushing to re-interview you if you stumbled on your first interview They can fight for you
to be hired - or not!
During the day, you'll do four or five interviews, often with two different teams Unlike many
companies, where you meet your interviewers in a conference room, you'll meet with your
Microsoft interviewers in their office This is a great time to look around and get a feel for the
team culture
Depending on the team, interviewers
may or may not share their feedback
on you with the rest of the interview
Definitely Prepare:
loop
“Why do you want to work for Microsoft?”
When you complete your interviews
with a team, you might speak with
In this question, Microsoft wants to see
a hiring manager If so, that’s a great
that you’re passionate about technology.
sign! It likely means that you passed
the interviews with a particular team A great answer might be, “I’ve been using
It’s now down to the hiring manager’s Microsoft software as long as I can re-
decision member, and I'm really impressed at how
You might get a decision that day, or Microsoft manages to create a product
it might be a week After one week of that is universally excellent. For example,
no word from HR, send them a friendly I’ve been using Visual Studio recently to
email asking for a status update
learn game programming, and it’s APIs
are excellent.” Note how this shows a
passion for technology!
What’s Unique:
You'll only reach the hiring manager if
you’ve done well, but if you do, that’s a
great sign!
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Behind the Scenes | The Amazon Interview
Amazon’s recruiting process usually begins with one or two phone screens in which you in-
terview with a specific team The engineer who interviews you will usually ask you to write
simple code and read it aloud on the phone They will ask a broad set of questions to explore
what areas of technology you’re familiar with
Next, you fly to Seattle for four or five interviews with one or two teams which have selected
you based on your resume and phone interviews You will have to code on a whiteboard,
and some interviewers will stress other skills Interviewers are each assigned a specific area
to probe and may seem very different from each other They can not see other feedback until
they have submitted their own and they are discouraged from discussing it until the hiring
meeting
Amazon’s “bar raiser” interviewer is charged with keeping the interview bar high They at-
tend special training and will interview candidates outside their group in order to balance
out the group itself If one interview seems significantly harder and different, that’s most like-
ly the bar raiser This person has both
significant experience with interviews
and veto power in the hiring decision
Definitely Prepare:
You will meet with your recruiter at the
end of the day
Amazon is a web-based company, and
Once your interviewers have entered that means they care about scale. Make
their feedback, they will meet to dis-
sure you prepare for questions in “Large
cuss it They will be the people making
Scale.” You don’t need a background
the hiring decision
in distributed systems to answer these
While Amazon’s recruiters are excellent
questions. See our recommendations in
at following up with candidates, occa-
the System Design and Memory Limits
sionally there are delays If you haven’t
heard from Amazon within a week, we Chapter.
recommend a friendly email
Additionally, Amazon tends to ask a
lot of questions about object oriented
design. Check out the Object Oriented
Design chapter for sample questions and
suggestions.
What’s Unique:
The Bar Raiser, who is brought in from a
different team to keep the bar high.
9 Cracking the Coding Interview
Behind the Scenes | The Google Interview
There are many scary stories floating around about Google interviews, but it’s mostly just
that: stories The interview is not terribly different from Microsoft’s or Amazon’s However,
because Google HR can be a little disorganized, we recommend being proactive in com-
munication
A Google engineer performs the first phone screen, so expect tough technical questions
On your on-site interview, you'll interview with four to six people, one of whom will be a
lunch interviewer Interviewer feedback is kept confidential from the other interviewers, so
you can be assured that you enter each interview with blank slate Your lunch interviewer
doesn’t submit feedback, so this is a great opportunity to ask honest questions
Written feedback is submitted to a hiring committee of engineers to make a hire/no-hire
recommendation Feedback is typically broken down into four categories (Analytical Ability,
Coding, Experience and Communication) and you are given a score from 1 0 to 4 0 overall
The hiring committee understands that you can’t be expected to excel in every interview,
but if multiple people raise the same
red flag (arrogance, poor coding skills,
etc), that can disqualify you A hiring
Definitely Prepare:
committee typically wants to see one
interviewer who is an “enthusiastic en- As a web-based company, Google cares
dorser ” In other words, a packet with about how to design a scalable system.
scores of 3 6, 3 1, 3 1 and 2 6 is better
So, make sure you prepare for questions
than all 3 1s Your phone screen is usu-
from “System Design and Memory Limits”
ally not a strong factor in the final deci-
Additionally, many Google interviewers
sion
will ask questions involving Bit Ma-
The Google hiring process can be slow
nipulation, so please brush up on these
If you don’t hear back within one week,
politely ask your recruiter for an up- questions.
date A lack of response says nothing
What’s Different:
about your performance
Your interviewers do not make the hiring
decision. Rather, they enter feedback
which is passed to a hiring committee.
The hiring committee recommends a
decision which can be—though rarely
is—rejected by Google executives.
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