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Interview Camp: Level: Medium

The document describes a coding interview problem where the goal is to sort an array of marbles by color. The colors are represented by integer values (Red=0, White=1, Blue=2). A two-pointer approach is outlined, with one pointer tracking the low boundary and one tracking the high boundary. Marbles are swapped into position based on their color, with Reds moved to the left, Blues to the right, and Whites left in the middle. Pseudocode is provided demonstrating this approach. The solution runs in O(n) time and O(1) space.

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27 views

Interview Camp: Level: Medium

The document describes a coding interview problem where the goal is to sort an array of marbles by color. The colors are represented by integer values (Red=0, White=1, Blue=2). A two-pointer approach is outlined, with one pointer tracking the low boundary and one tracking the high boundary. Marbles are swapped into position based on their color, with Reds moved to the left, Blues to the right, and Whites left in the middle. Pseudocode is provided demonstrating this approach. The solution runs in O(n) time and O(1) space.

Uploaded by

abhi74
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Interview Camp 

Problem: Red, White and Blue 


 
Level: Medium 

Note: This solution uses Enums and Exceptions. While optional, it always looks good if you use them in an 
interview. 
 
You're given a list of Marbles. Each marble can have one of 3 colors (Red, White or Blue).  
Arrange the marbles in order of the colors (Red -> White -> Blue). 
 
Colors are represented as follows: 
 
0 - Red 
1 - White 
2 - Blue 
 
Questions to Clarify: 
Q. What to do if the input has an unknown color? 
A. Throw an Exception 
 
Q. Do I need to move around the existing elements of the array, or can I count the elements (for  
example, 4 zeros) and then fill them up in a new array? 
A. Yes, you need to move elements around. A marble is represented as an integer in this problem, but 
in   
reality there might be more information about a marble in each element. 

Solution: 
This is very similar to the Dutch National Flag problem. You will use the same solution, 
with 2 pointers - one tracking ​low_boundary​ and one tracking ​high_boundary​.  
Only white marbles will be left in the middle. 

Pseudocode: 
(Note: Never write pseudocode in an actual interview. Unless you're writing a
few lines quickly to plan out your solution. Your actual solution should be in
a real language and use good syntax.)

low_boundary = 0, high_boundary = a.length - 1


i = 0

while i <= high_boundary


if a[i].color is RED:
add a[i] to low boundary and expand boundary by 1
i++
else if a[i].color is BLUE:
add a[i] to high boundary and expand boundary by 1
don't increment i because the current i needs to be processed
as it came from ahead

 
 
©​ 2017 Interview Camp (interviewcamp.io) 
 
Interview Camp 

else if a[i].color is WHITE:


i++
else: // unknown color
throw exception

Test Cases: 
Edge Cases: empty array, null array, invalid color 
Base Cases: single element, two elements 
Regular Cases: list has element with - all 3 colors, only 2 colors, only 1 color 

Time Complexity: O(n) 

Space Complexity: O(1) 


 
public static void redWhiteBlue(Marble[] a) {
if (a == null)
return;

int low_boundary = 0, high_boundary = a.length - 1;


int i = 0;

while (i <= high_boundary) {


Color color = a[i].getColor();
if (color == Color.RED) {
Utils.swap(a, i, low_boundary);
low_boundary++;
i++;
} else if (color == Color.BLUE) {
Utils.swap(a, i, high_boundary);
high_boundary--;
} else if (color == Color.WHITE){
i++;
} else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown Color: " + color);
}
}
}

/***** Helper Code *****/


/* Ask the interviewer if you need to implement this. */

public static enum Color {


RED(0),
WHITE(1),
BLUE(2);

private final int colorId;

 
 
©​ 2017 Interview Camp (interviewcamp.io) 
 
Interview Camp 

Color(int colorId) {
this.colorId = colorId;
}

public int getValue() {


return colorId;
}
}

public static class Marble {


Color color;
int data;

public Marble(Color color) {


super();
this.color = color;
this.data = 0;
}

public Marble(Color color, int data) {


super();
this.color = color;
this.data = data;
}

public Color getColor() {


return color;
}

public int getData() {


return data;
}

public String toString() {


return color.toString() + ": " + data;
}
}
 

 
 
©​ 2017 Interview Camp (interviewcamp.io) 

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