Saturday, March 23, 2024

How To Prepare Data Structures And Algorithms For Interviews

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List Some Applications Of Queue Data Structure

How To Prepare For Data Structures And Algorithms For Interviews | DSA Preparation

To prioritize jobs as in the following scenarios:

  • As waiting lists for a single shared resource in a printer, CPU, call center systems, or image uploads where the first one entered is the first to be processed
  • In the asynchronous transfer of data or example pipes, file IO, and sockets
  • As buffers in applications like MP3 media players and CD players
  • To maintain the playlist in media players

What Are The Advantages Of The Heap Over A Stack

In this data structure interview questions, try giving various advantages, along with examples, if possible. It will show the interviewer your domain expertise. Generally, both heap and stack are part of memory and used in Java for different needs:

  • Heap is more flexible than the stack because memory space can be dynamically allocated and de-allocated as needed
  • Heap memory is used to store objects in Java, whereas stack memory is used to store local variables and function call
  • Objects created in the heap are visible to all threads, whereas variables stored in stacks are only visible to the owner as private memory
  • When using recursion, the size of heap memory is more whereas it quickly fill-ups stack memory

Post Graduate Program In Data Science

Python For Data Structures Algorithms And Interviews

This is a data structure, algorithm, and coding interview course specially designed for Python developers. Its one of the modern courses and focuses on things like Github and LinkedIn profiles to impress recruits.

It also helps you to create a great resume, which many programmers neglect. Remember, its your resume that gives you a chance for an interview, if its not good, you wont even get an interview call.

In this course, you will not only learn all major data structures and algorithms but also ace coding interviews after preparing for the courses mock interviews. Overall, one of the best coding interview courses for Python programmers.

Also Check: How To Prepare System Design Interview

Now Youre Ready For The Coding Interview

These are some of the best courses to prepare for programming interviews. They will teach you data structure and algorithms that help you to do really well in your interview.

I have also shared a lot of programming interview questions on my blog, so if you are really interested, you can always go there and search for them.

These common coding, data structure, and algorithm questions are the ones you need to know to successfully interview any company, big or small, for any level of programming job.

If you are looking for a programming or software development job in 2022, you can start your preparation with this list of algorithms and job interview courses.

Good knowledge of data structure and algorithms is important for success in coding interviews and thats where you should focus most of your attention.

Other Programming Interview Resources you may like:Top 25 System Design Problems for Coding Interviews

What Is The Best Way To Learn Data Structure & Algorithms

The Anatomy of a Data Structures and Algorithms Interview ...

Mastering Data Structure & Algorithms is a step-by-step learning process. Before you start with your preparations, you should have a roadmap in mind. Hereâs how you should structure and plan out your learning:

  • Start with learning an object-oriented language:
  • Pick a language youâre most comfortable with, such as C++, Java, or Python. You can also start with C if youâre facing difficulties with an OOPS language and then switch to C++ or Java.

  • Beginning to learn about Data Structures:
  • Once you feel confident in your chosen programming language concepts like C, C++, Python, or Java, you can then start learning about Data Structures. There are mainly 3 parts of Data Structures you need to master:

    • âTime and space complexity:

    You need to learn how to write an efficient code with time & space complexity.

    • âArrays & Strings:

    They are the building blocks of any Data Structure and need to be practiced thoroughly.

    • âLinked lists, Stacks & Queues: These form the foundation of binary trees, heaps, etc.

    3. Learn some of the basics of Algorithms:

    Once youâve understood & mastered the basics of Data Structures, you can then move on to learning Algorithms. Try to build a strong understanding of the following topics in Algorithms:

    • Mathematical Logic
    • Recursion

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    How Do You Implement A Postorder Tree Traversal Recursion

    The binary tree is a data structure that, unlike arrays and linked lists, does not store elements in a linear fashion, but hierarchically. This binary tree questions test your ability to evaluate or delete an expression. To answer this question, you should be able to visually show how to create a postorder recursion for the hiring manager to see your process.

    Example:”A post-order tree traversal of node n involves the following steps, starting from the root:

    • The left subtree of n is traversed by calling printPostorder.

    • The right subtree of n is traversed by calling printPostorder.

    • Then the node n itself is visited.

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    Knowing When Youre Ready

    Youll never feel ready no matter how long you study. Theres always more topics to dive deeper into or weak areas that could use more practice.

    There is definitely an element of luck in the whole process. Its very possible that you get a question on a topic you havent prepared for at all or are really weak on. Its also possible that you get all questions on topics youre really strong in since two months ago and didnt need to spend that extra time studying to pass. You cant prepare for every possible outcome, but your chances of success get higher than everyone elses with more practice.

    Keeping track of your progress and getting feedback is very important in knowing when youre truly ready to perform on the real interview without relying on just emotion.

    Keep track of your completion times when you do practice questions and aim for at most 40 minutes to complete most medium level questions and 1 hour to complete hard level questions on sites like leetcode.com or hackerrank.com.

    Realize that you must pass every edge case for it to count on those sites but luckily this isnt the case for real interviews! Most interview code is evaluated on a small set of edge cases and small errors get passed or considered to be irrelevant all the time. The point of evaluation isnt to be so strict as to expect perfection, but they need to see enough signals” to be convinced.

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    Focus On Less Problems Not More

    This is comforting, right? Who wants to focus on 500 problems when you can focus on 100?

    But heres the keyyou want to learn them in depth. This is where depth comes in.

    When you analyze a problem in depth, it means:

  • You can code it quickly
  • You can code it with correct syntax, which means you are good at the language
  • You can write clean code in one go, because its second nature to you
  • You can apply the same code to a new problem quickly
  • You know the data structure you are using and can implement it if asked to
  • To achieve this, you need to focus on a few representative problems Solve them a few times and youll start seeing patterns. You also start getting better at the coding part.

    So youve covered Depth, congratulations! You have acquired a solid base.

    You can now go all out and solve as many problems as you want. And best of all, you wont need to code many of them. Figure out a solution, and if its similar to one of your core problems , youre done. No need to actually code and debug it because youre already good at that.

    Preparing A Continuous Learning And Interview Preparation Plan

    How to Learn Data Structures and Algorithms for Your Coding Interview

    We are assuming that any professional or student is ready to strategically give an average of 25 hours/week. Here is a proposed time management plan that one can customize quickly based on personal learning needs.

    • Minimum time on weekdays = 15 Hours
    • Minimum time on weekends = 10 Hours

    Based on experience, let’s assume:

    • Solving one problem on paper with pseudo-code takes 30 minutes on average
    • Solving one problem with well-written code takes 1 hour on average
    • 1 Mock Interview takes 1 hour on average

    4-Week Revision and Interview Preparation Plan

    This is recommended for advanced learners who want to revise concepts and warm-up problem-solving skills. Such learners should have a good understanding of algo and data structures, and programming concepts.

    • Minimum estimated time = 25 x 4 = 100 Hours
    • Minimum coding problems to practise = 75
    • Concept revision and Problem-solving Research = 25 Hours
    • Problem-solving on paper with pseudocode = 25 Hours
    • Problem-solving with coding practice = 25 Hours
    • Doubt Resolution + Behavioural Interview Preparation + Mock Interviews = 25 Hours

    8-Week Revision and Interview Preparation Plan

    This is recommended for advanced learners who want to revise concepts and sharpen problem-solving skills. Such learners should have basic problem-solving skills in data structure and algorithms and good knowledge of programming concepts.

    12-Week Learning and Interview Preparation Plan

    24-Week Learning and Interview Preparation Plan

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    Tips For Smart Learning

    • Our goal must be to cover at least 80% syllabus and prioritize the topics based on strengths and weaknesses. A topic that requires more time should get more time.
    • Doing a weekly critical review could help us to understand the progress. We need to think what is the further scope of improvement in the topic? What is the current level of our problem-solving ability? For the fact-based view, we recommend rating each topic on a scale of 1 to 10.
    • Few ideas always come during learning DSA: Brute force solution, efficient solution, boundary conditions, time and space complexity analysis, coding style. Keep preparing notes if you find something unique or essential patterns.
    • In the starting journey, rather than solving many problems, focus on the top 100 coding interview questions. The best idea would be to pick famous coding interview problems which can be solved using various techniques.
    • Learn to visualize critical operations, implementations, and use cases of each data structure.
    • Never mind going through the same concepts and problems again and again. This would help in figuring out hidden ideas. Focus on reason and never try to memorize!

    A blog to explore: Step by step learning plan for interview success

    Learn At Your Own Pace

    Reading is faster than watching: the average video tutorial is spoken at 150 words per minute, while the average human reads at 250. Thats why our courses are laid out as rich text.

    Youll get all the benefits of reading from a book, such as the ability to skim over parts, double back easily where needed, and highlight passages you find particularly interesting.

    We recognize learning visually is important. Thats why solutions are laced with detailed charts and visualizations. Try a free preview today:

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    Have You Studied Enough

    How do you know when you actually understand a concept? You dont want to waste time studying something that you already know well, but at the same time, you dont want to miss important material.

    Let me introduce the Teddy Bear Technique. This is a very simple way to test your knowledge and know whether you need to devote time to additional study. All you have to do is explain the concept you are trying to learn to a teddy bear or other inanimate object .

    The idea here is that the act of speaking aloud and teaching a topic will highlight areas where you are prepared on a topic versus those where you need some work. Explaining the topic, particularly focusing on explaining it in a way that someone without knowledge of it already could understand, forces you to know the topic very well.

    There are a couple keys to making this technique work for you:

  • Be honest with yourself. Since this is a solo exercise, theres not going to be anyone to tell you if they didnt understand something. You need to be honest with yourself whether or not you adequately explained a given concept or whether you glossed over some of the important details.
  • Explain like your teddy bear knows nothing about the topic . If you talk like it already knows a lot about the topic, it is easy to skip some relevant background information that you actually need to know.
  • Common Data Structure Interview Questions

    Data Structures and Algorithms Interview Questions for ...

    If you are seeking a programming, coding or software development position, you should be prepared to answer data structure and algorithm interview questions. Reviewing common questions can help you prepare a thorough, detailed response to impress the hiring manager. In this article, we review common algorithm and data structure interview questions and provide sample answers to help you prepare for your next interview.

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    What Are The Differences Between The B Tree And The B+ Tree

    The B tree is a self-balancing m-way tree, with m defining the tree’s order. Depending on the number of m, Btree is an extension of the Binary Search tree in which a node can have more than one key and more than two children. The data is provided in the B tree in a sorted manner, with lower values on the left subtree and higher values on the right subtree.

    The B+ tree is an advanced self-balanced tree since every path from the tree’s root to its leaf is the same length. The fact that all leaf nodes are the same length indicates that they all occur at the same level. Specific leaf nodes cant appear at the third level, while others appear at the second level.

    Full Stack Java Developer Course

    How Does The Selection Sort Work

    Selection sort works by repeatedly picking the smallest number in ascending order from the list and placing it at the beginning. This process is repeated moving toward the end of the list or sorted subarray.

    Scan all items and find the smallest. Switch over the position as the first item. Repeat the selection sort on the remaining N-1 items. We always iterate forward and swap with the smallest element .

    Time complexity: best case O worst O

    Space complexity: worst O

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    What Operations Can Be Performed On Queues

    • enqueue adds an element to the end of the queue
    • dequeue removes an element from the front of the queue
    • init is used for initializing the queue
    • isEmpty tests for whether or not the queue is empty
    • The front is used to get the value of the first data item but does not remove it
    • The rear is used to get the last item from a queue

    Pick A Few Good Books And Resources

    How to prepare for technical interview: Data structures and algorithms resources

    There are several classic works on data structure and algorithms. They are useful resources, but can be difficult for a beginner. At the outset, youre better off working with resources that use a programming language you already know.

    Visualizations will help you understand how data structure and algorithms works. You can find awesome animations of this kind from the site: visualgo.net.

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    + Best Data Structure And Algorithm Courses For Programming And Coding Interviews

    In this article, I am going to share some of the best online courses to prepare for coding/programming job interviews, and based upon your experience and skillset, you can choose one or two courses from this list to prepare for your next job interview.

    Most of these courses are focused on data structure and algorithms, which are the most important topics for any coding interview but they also teach you problem-solving and other aspects of Job interview e.g. questions from a programming language like Java and C++, Database, and SQL concepts, Linux commands, etc.

    Once you have gone through one of these online training courses, you would have enough knowledge to take on your job interview as well as know where to go for further improvement.

    This is probably the best coding interview course for Java programmers. Though no programming language is required, if you dont know Java, the author will teach you.

    In this course, you will learn how to analyze algorithms like searching, sorting, and other algorithms.

    You will also learn how to reduce the code complexity from one Big-O level to another level, an important skill to impress the interviewer.

    Furthermore, you will learn different types of data structures and how to choose the right data structure to solve a problem.

    Remember, choosing the right data structure can drastically improve the CPU and memory profile of an application.

    Here is the link to join this course Data Structure and Algorithms Analysis Job Interview

    Bonus : Practical Applications And System Design

    The system design interview has evolved as the industry has changed, with microservices becoming heavily utilized and frontends growing in complexity. The exact question youll be asked will depend on the role youre applying for, but Ill outline the core concepts below and break them into the backend and frontend.

    Backend: You will be asked to build a complex backend system that will likely consist of some type of data storage and exposing APIs. Companies want to see if you can understand how to logically encapsulate services and have sound reasoning for architecture decisions that will allow the system to be scalable and maintainable.

    Frontend: Companies want to see if you can manage a modern frontend. This can either be tested conceptually by discussing your decisions, or they will ask you to build a small application. The concepts typically tested on the frontend are: API integration, building a complex user interface, handling state, or considering performance.

    The best way to study for system design questions is to build real things.Spend your time working on projects and trying out different technologies to see how they work. Once you have done this, look at sample system design interview questions so youll have a much more practical connection to the problem and see how others solve them.

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