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Module 2 Slides

Uploaded by

tempmail432165
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© © All Rights Reserved
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The Key to Effective Studying

How to solve problems effectively

● What are the goals of practicing?

○ Simulate real-world interview

○ Identify and improve weaknesses

○ Become comfortable with the tools and


systems

● Avoid

○ Rehashing what you’re already good at


Simulate real-world interview

● Hand write code

● Talk out loud as you go

● Test your code by hand

● Apply the strategies we will discuss today


Identify your weaknesses

● If you get the solution


○ Where (if anywhere) did I get stuck?
○ Copy code verbatim into compiler and test
more thoroughly
○ Keep a list of mistakes you made. Next
time, avoid those mistakes

● If you didn’t get the solution


○ What part of the solution did you miss?
○ Break it down. What was the pattern (or
patterns) you missed?
○ What topics were you weak on?
Become comfortable with the tools and
systems

● Interviewing is not like the normal job


○ Whiteboards
○ No Google
○ No compiler

● To be comfortable in the interview, you


need practice in that environment

● You’re also learning new strategies that


you want to be able to use effectively
“I don’t understand the solution…”

● This is totally okay, but you need to be able


to figure this out on your own
● “What part don’t I understand?”
○ Alternatively, which parts do you
understand?
● Walk through the tricky parts to see what’s
happening
○ https://youtu.be/B3U6LExgevE
● Are you missing any knowledge that would
help you understand the problem?
○ Keep a list of these topics so you know
what to review
● Research the problem
“I don’t understand the solution…”

private static void permutations(int[] items, int i, List<Integer> path,


List<List<Integer>> results) {
if (i == items.length) {
results.add(new LinkedList<Integer>(path));
return;
}

for (int j = i; j < items.length; j++) {


swap(items, i, j);
path.add(items[i]);
permutations(items, i+1, path, results);
swap(items, i, j);
path.remove(path.size() - 1);
}
}

private static void swap(int[] items, int i, int j) {


int temp = items[i];
items[i] = items[j];
items[j] = temp;
}
Misc Advice

● How much time should you spend on a


problem?
○ No more than 30 minutes unless you’re
making progress
● If you’re short on time, you can usually
skip the coding part
○ Most people are relatively good at the
coding and struggle with problem solving
● How difficult should problems be?
○ Ideally not impossible but challenging
○ Easy problems are a good warmup to build
confidence before interview
Your Problem Solving
Framework
Why do we need a framework?

● Allows us to manage our time as


effectively as possible

● Allows us to stay focused

● Helps us get back on track if we get lost

● Allows us to see where our weaknesses


are to focus our studying
The Framework

1. Understand the problem [3-5 minutes]

2. Find a brute force solution [5 minutes]

3. Optimize your solution [15 minutes]

4. Code your solution [15 minutes]

5. Test your solution [5 minutes]


1. Understand the Problem

● Make sure that you really know what is


being asked. Take your time here.

● Write out the function signature. What are


the inputs and outputs?

● Go through the example inputs and


outputs. How does the input get that
output?
Examples

● Print reverse linked list


○ Return void
○ Just print out all the values
○ void printReverse(Node list)

● 0-1 Knapsack
○ Each item can be only included once
○ What are we returning? A list of items
○ List<Item> knapsack(Item[] items)
2. Find a Brute Force solution

● Just find the dumbest/most obvious


solution

● Ignore everything you might already know


about the problem

● Some strategies:
○ Can you enumerate all the possibilities?
○ How would you solve the problem by
hand?
○ Can you solve a similar/simpler problem?
○ Can you solve the problem in multiple
stages?
Examples

● Print reverse linked list


○ Lots of different approaches here
○ Add all the items to another data structure
○ Iterate to specific indices
■ Implement a “get item at index”
function

● 0-1 Knapsack
○ There is a finite number of different
combinations, so we can just find all the
different possible combinations
3. Optimize your Solution

● What is the time and space complexity of


our existing solution?

● What is the Best Conceivable Runtime?

● Now we can use our existing knowledge

● BUD optimization

● We will cover this in depth in Module 3


Examples

● Print reverse linked list


○ Currently O(n) time and O(n) space
○ Can’t do better with time but can we do
better with space?
○ What if we modify the list itself?

● 0-1 Knapsack
○ Time and space are exponential
○ We are computing all these invalid
combinations and storing a lot of extra
data
○ We are also repeating computations
○ Dynamic Programming
3b. Explicitly Understand How to Code

● You should NOT be figuring out how to


code stuff up while actually coding

● When you get to coding, it should just be


“translating” the work you’ve already done

● Pseudocode is optional. Just make sure


you understand how to implement the
tricky parts
Examples

● Print reverse linked list


○ Literally sketch out exact steps to reverse
the list

● 0-1 Knapsack
○ Pseudocode might be helpful for
understanding recursion
○ Let’s lay out specific functions we need
○ If we’re using tabulation, what does that
array look like and how are we populating
each cell?
4. Code

● This part should be easy if you did 3b

● Go as fast as you can here while being


accurate

● When practicing, do this by hand and then


test it with the compiler when you’re done
5. Test your code

● ALWAYS test your code

● Try to walk through the code as if you were


the compiler

● Don’t assume that the code does what you


intended it to do

● You should be able to confidently say your


code is correct

● https://youtu.be/HgthIgvdMJ8
Tips and Tricks

● Follow the steps in order

● Make sure you do them all


○ I recommend practicing with a checklist

● This week’s exercises are designed to


target each step of the framework, so
follow along
Finding a Brute Force
Solution
https://leetcode.com/problemset/all/

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