Google

1. Question: Explain the difference between an array and a linked list.

o Answer: Arrays have fixed sizes and allow direct access to elements
via indexing, while linked lists consist of nodes with pointers that
allow dynamic size but require sequential access.
2. Question: How do you detect a cycle in a linked list?
o Answer: Use Floyd's Cycle-Finding Algorithm (Tortoise and Hare).
Move one pointer at normal speed and another at twice the speed. If
they meet, there's a cycle.
3. Question: Implement a stack using queues.
o Answer: You can implement a stack using two queues where one
queue is used for the current stack elements, and the other helps
reverse the order when pushing elements.
4. Question: What is the time complexity of inserting an element in a binary
search tree?
o Answer: The average time complexity is O(log n), but it can degrade
to O(n) if the tree becomes unbalanced.
5. Question: Describe the differences between DFS and BFS.
o Answer: DFS explores as far down as possible along each branch
before backtracking, while BFS explores all neighbors at the present
depth before moving on to nodes at the next depth level.
Amazon
6. Question: What is a hash table, and how does it handle collisions?
o Answer: A hash table stores key-value pairs and uses a hash function
to compute an index into an array. Collisions are handled using
chaining or open addressing.
7. Question: How would you find the k-th largest element in an array?
 o Answer: You can use a min-heap of size k, QuickSelect algorithm, or
sort the array and access the k-th element from the end.
8. Question: Explain how a balanced binary tree maintains balance.
o Answer: Balanced trees like AVL or Red-Black Trees perform rotations
during insertions and deletions to maintain balance properties that
ensure O(log n) height.
9. Question: What is the difference between merge sort and quicksort?
o Answer: Merge sort is a stable, divide-and-conquer algorithm with
O(n log n) complexity that requires additional space. Quicksort has an
average O(n log n) complexity but can degrade to O(n^2) and is
generally faster in practice due to in-place sorting.
10.Question: Implement a queue using stacks.
o Answer: Use two stacks, one for enqueue operations and one for
dequeue operations. Enqueue by pushing onto the first stack, and
dequeue by popping from the second stack or transferring elements
from the first if the second is empty.
Microsoft
11.Question: What is a trie, and where is it used?
o Answer: A trie is a tree-like data structure that stores a dynamic set
of strings, often used for efficient retrieval, like in autocomplete
features or spell checkers.
12.Question: Describe the algorithm for reversing a linked list.
o Answer: Use three pointers: previous, current, and next. Iterate
through the list, reversing the pointers one by one until the end.
13.Question: What are the different types of heaps, and what are their use
cases?
o Answer: Heaps can be max-heaps or min-heaps, used in priority
queues, heap sort, and algorithms like Dijkstra’s for finding the
shortest path.
 14.Question: Explain dynamic programming with an example.
o Answer: Dynamic programming is an optimization technique that
solves complex problems by breaking them down into simpler
subproblems and storing the results. An example is the Fibonacci
sequence, where you store previous results to avoid redundant
calculations.
15.Question: How would you detect a palindrome in a linked list?
o Answer: Use the slow and fast pointer technique to find the
midpoint, reverse the second half, and compare it with the first half.
Facebook
16.Question: What is the time complexity of searching in a balanced binary
search tree, and why?
o Answer: O(log n) because the tree is balanced, ensuring that each
level reduces the search space by half.
17.Question: Explain Dijkstra’s algorithm and its time complexity.
o Answer: Dijkstra’s algorithm finds the shortest path from a source
node to all other nodes in a weighted graph using a priority queue.
The time complexity is O((V + E) log V) with a min-heap priority
queue.
18.Question: How does a segment tree work?
o Answer: A segment tree is a binary tree used for storing intervals or
segments and allows efficient querying of data, such as finding sums,
minimums, or maximums within a range in O(log n) time.
19.Question: What is the difference between Prim's and Kruskal's algorithm?
o Answer: Prim's algorithm builds the MST by adding edges to a
growing tree, focusing on nodes connected to the tree. Kruskal’s
algorithm sorts edges and adds the smallest edge that doesn’t form a
cycle, focusing on individual edges.
20.Question: Describe the A* search algorithm.
 o Answer: A* is a graph traversal and pathfinding algorithm that uses
heuristics to find the shortest path. It combines elements of both
Dijkstra’s and Best-First Search using a cost function f(n) = g(n) + h(n).
Netflix
21.Question: How do you implement a LRU (Least Recently Used) cache?
o Answer: Use a combination of a doubly linked list and a hash map.
The linked list maintains the order of use, and the hash map provides
O(1) access to elements.
22.Question: Explain how binary search works and its time complexity.
o Answer: Binary search works on sorted arrays by repeatedly dividing
the search interval in half. The time complexity is O(log n).
23.Question: What are bloom filters and where are they used?
o Answer: Bloom filters are probabilistic data structures used to test if
an element is a member of a set, allowing false positives but no false
negatives. They are used in caching, database queries, and network
security.
24.Question: What is the difference between depth-first search (DFS) and
breadth-first search (BFS) in graph traversal?
o Answer: DFS explores a node’s depth before moving to another
branch, using a stack (recursively or explicitly). BFS explores nodes
level by level using a queue.
25.Question: How would you sort an array of integers using the merge sort
algorithm?
o Answer: Divide the array into halves, recursively sort each half, and
merge the sorted halves. This results in a stable sort with O(n log n)
time complexity.
LinkedIn
26.Question: What is the purpose of a hash function in hashing?
 o Answer: A hash function maps keys to indices in a hash table,
enabling efficient data retrieval in O(1) time on average.
27.Question: Describe the Knuth-Morris-Pratt (KMP) pattern matching
algorithm.
o Answer: KMP algorithm searches for a pattern in a text by
preprocessing the pattern to create a partial match table (LPS array)
that indicates the next positions to match, allowing the search to skip
unnecessary comparisons.
28.Question: Explain the concept of graph coloring and its applications.
o Answer: Graph coloring assigns colors to nodes so that no two
adjacent nodes have the same color. Applications include scheduling,
register allocation, and frequency assignment.
29.Question: How would you detect and handle collisions in a hash table?
o Answer: Common methods include chaining (linked lists) and open
addressing (probing methods like linear or quadratic probing).
30.Question: What is a skip list, and how does it differ from a balanced tree?
o Answer: A skip list is a probabilistic data structure that allows fast
search, insertion, and deletion operations. It consists of multiple
levels of linked lists where each level skips over a number of
elements, unlike trees that rely on a strict balancing condition.
Apple
31.Question: Explain the concept of backtracking with an example.
o Answer: Backtracking is a method of solving problems incrementally,
removing solutions that fail to satisfy the constraints of the problem.
A classic example is the N-Queens problem, where you place queens
on a chessboard so no two queens threaten each other.
32.Question: Describe what a red-black tree is.
o Answer: A red-black tree is a balanced binary search tree with
additional properties, including node colors (red or black) and rules
 to ensure the tree remains approximately balanced, offering O(log n)
operations.
33.Question: How does QuickSort choose the pivot, and why is it efficient?
o Answer: QuickSort can choose the pivot using various methods like
selecting the first element, the last element, the middle element, or
using a median-of-three rule. It is efficient due to its in-place
partitioning and average time complexity of O(n log n).
34.Question: What is a Fibonacci heap, and where is it used?
o Answer: A Fibonacci heap is a collection of heap-ordered trees that
allows for more efficient amortized operations compared to binary
heaps, used in algorithms like Dijkstra’s and Prim’s for optimizing the
time complexity of decrease-key operations.
35.Question: How can you find the median of a data stream efficiently?
o Answer: Use two heaps: a max-heap for the lower half of the data
and a min-heap for the upper half. This allows the retrieval of the
median in O(1) time with insertion in O(log n).
Uber
36.Question: What is the difference between a binary search tree (BST) and a
binary heap?
o Answer: A BST is ordered such that the left child is less than the
parent and the right child is greater, allowing sorted order traversal. A
binary heap is a complete binary tree that maintains a heap property
(min or max) with efficient priority queue operations.
37.Question: Explain what a B-tree is and its use case.
o Answer: A B-tree is a self-balancing tree data structure that maintains
sorted data and allows searches, insertions, deletions, and sequential
access in logarithmic time. It is commonly used in databases and file
systems.
38.Question: How does a priority queue work, and what are its applications?
 o Answer: A priority queue is an abstract data type where each
element has a priority. Elements are removed based on priority
rather than insertion order, often implemented using heaps.
Applications include job scheduling and Dijkstra’s algorithm.
39.Question: What is the difference between amortized and worst-case time
complexity?
o Answer: Amortized time complexity averages the cost of operations
over a sequence, providing a more realistic long-term performance
measure, whereas worst-case time complexity gives the upper bound
of time an operation could take.
40.Question: Explain the Boyer-Moore voting algorithm.
o Answer: The Boyer-Moore voting algorithm finds the majority
element in a sequence with a linear time complexity and constant
space by maintaining a count that increases with matching elements
and decreases otherwise, tracking the candidate.
Goldman Sachs
41.Question: What is the significance of the heap property in heapsort?
o Answer: The heap property (parent nodes are greater or less than
child nodes for max-heaps or min-heaps) allows heapsort to
efficiently extract the maximum or minimum element, leading to an
in-place, O(n log n) sorting algorithm.
42.Question: How would you implement a median finder using heaps?
o Answer: Use a max-heap to store the smaller half of numbers and a
min-heap to store the larger half, balancing their sizes to maintain the
median at the tops.
43.Question: Describe a real-world scenario where you would use a graph data
structure.
o Answer: Graphs are used in social networks to represent users and
connections, in navigation systems to represent maps and routes, and
in network topology for connectivity and routing.
 44.Question: What is a Fenwick Tree (Binary Indexed Tree), and what is it used
for?
o Answer: A Fenwick Tree is a data structure that provides efficient
methods for cumulative frequency tables and is used for tasks like
finding prefix sums and updating elements in logarithmic time.
45.Question: Explain the concept of a max-flow problem in a graph.
o Answer: The max-flow problem involves finding the maximum
possible flow from a source node to a sink node in a flow network,
subject to capacity constraints, and is solved using algorithms like
Ford-Fulkerson or Edmonds-Karp.
Airbnb
46.Question: What are the different methods to traverse a tree?
o Answer: Common tree traversal methods include in-order, pre-order,
post-order (all depth-first traversals), and level-order (breadth-first
traversal).
47.Question: How would you design a data structure for a leaderboard?
o Answer: A leaderboard can be designed using a balanced binary
search tree, a hash map with a priority queue, or a combination of
sorted data structures for efficient insertions, deletions, and access.
48.Question: Explain the difference between synchronous and asynchronous
operations with data structures.
o Answer: Synchronous operations are blocking and wait for a task to
complete, whereas asynchronous operations allow tasks to run in the
background, often using data structures like queues to manage tasks
and callbacks.
49.Question: Describe how an AVL tree maintains balance.
o Answer: An AVL tree is a self-balancing binary search tree that
maintains balance by tracking the height of subtrees and performing
 rotations (left, right, left-right, right-left) to keep the height difference
between subtrees within one.
50.Question: How would you implement a sparse matrix?
o Answer: A sparse matrix can be implemented using linked lists,
dictionaries, or coordinate lists (COO format), focusing on storing only
non-zero elements to save space.
Salesforce
1. Question: Explain the sliding window technique and its applications.
o Answer: The sliding window technique involves creating a window
that slides over the data to maintain a subset of elements, used in
problems like finding subarrays, maximum sums, and strings
matching.
2. Question: How would you implement a circular queue?
o Answer: A circular queue uses an array and two pointers (front and
rear) that wrap around using the modulo operator to reuse space
from dequeued elements.
3. Question: Describe the union-find algorithm and its applications.
o Answer: Union-find is a data structure that keeps track of elements
partitioned into disjoint sets, with operations for finding the set of an
element and unioning sets. It is used in network connectivity,
Kruskal’s MST, and cycle detection.
4. Question: What is a double-ended queue (deque), and where is it used?
o Answer: A deque is a data structure that allows insertion and
deletion from both ends. It is used in scenarios requiring flexible
queue operations, such as the implementation of LRU caches.
5. Question: How can you check if a binary tree is a mirror of itself
(symmetric)?
 o Answer: Use recursion or iteration to check if the left and right
subtrees are mirror images, comparing the structure and node values
recursively.
Oracle
6. Question: Describe the Heap Sort algorithm and its time complexity.
o Answer: Heap Sort builds a max-heap from the array and repeatedly
extracts the maximum element, re-heaping the remaining elements.
The time complexity is O(n log n).
7. Question: How do you implement a binary tree level order traversal?
o Answer: Use a queue to keep track of nodes at each level, starting
from the root, and visit nodes level by level using the queue for
iterative processing.
8. Question: What is a graph's adjacency matrix, and how does it differ from
an adjacency list?
o Answer: An adjacency matrix is a 2D array where each cell represents
the presence of an edge between nodes. An adjacency list uses lists
for each node to store edges, which is more space-efficient for sparse
graphs.
9. Question: Explain what a circular linked list is and a use case for it.
o Answer: A circular linked list is a linked list where the last node points
back to the first node, creating a loop. It is used in scenarios like
round-robin scheduling.
10.Question: How do you find the longest common subsequence of two
strings?
o Answer: Use dynamic programming to build a matrix where each cell
represents the length of the longest common subsequence up to that
index in both strings.
Adobe
11.Question: What is a balanced binary tree, and why is it important?
 o Answer: A balanced binary tree maintains its height as close to
optimal (logarithmic) as possible to ensure operations like insert,
delete, and find are efficient.
12.Question: Describe an algorithm to find all permutations of a string.
o Answer: Use backtracking to generate permutations by swapping
characters and recursively permuting the remaining characters.
13.Question: What is a self-balancing binary search tree, and give examples.
o Answer: Self-balancing trees maintain height balance to ensure O(log
n) operations. Examples include AVL trees and Red-Black trees.
14.Question: Explain Bellman-Ford algorithm and its use case.
o Answer: Bellman-Ford finds the shortest paths from a source node to
all other nodes, allowing for negative weights and detecting negative
cycles. It’s used in routing algorithms.
15.Question: How do you merge two sorted linked lists into one sorted linked
list?
o Answer: Use two pointers to traverse each list, comparing elements
and adding the smaller one to the merged list iteratively or
recursively.
Snapchat
16.Question: How do you detect a loop in a directed graph?
o Answer: Use Depth-First Search (DFS) with a recursion stack or use
Kahn’s algorithm (topological sorting) to detect cycles.
17.Question: Describe the Floyd-Warshall algorithm.
o Answer: Floyd-Warshall finds the shortest paths between all pairs of
nodes in a weighted graph by iteratively improving the path lengths
using a dynamic programming approach.
18.Question: How would you find the shortest path in a weighted graph with
negative weights?
 o Answer: Use the Bellman-Ford algorithm, which handles graphs with
negative weights and can detect negative cycles.
19.Question: What is a minimum spanning tree, and which algorithms can be
used to find it?
o Answer: A minimum spanning tree is a subset of edges connecting all
vertices with the minimum total edge weight. Prim’s and Kruskal’s
algorithms are commonly used to find it.
20.Question: How can you reverse the words in a string?
o Answer: Split the string by spaces, reverse the list of words, and join
them back together.
Twitter
21.Question: Explain the KMP string matching algorithm.
o Answer: KMP uses a prefix table (LPS array) to skip re-evaluating
characters that have already been matched, making it efficient with
O(n + m) complexity.
22.Question: How do you find the intersection of two linked lists?
o Answer: Use two pointers starting at the heads of each list, moving
forward, and switching to the other list when reaching the end,
meeting at the intersection.
23.Question: What is the Boyer-Moore string search algorithm?
o Answer: Boyer-Moore uses pattern matching heuristics (bad
character and good suffix rules) to skip sections of the text, improving
average time complexity over naive search methods.
24.Question: Describe a method to implement a stack using a queue.
o Answer: Use two queues, maintaining the current elements in the
correct order for stack operations by reversing the order on every
push operation.
25.Question: Explain how the quickselect algorithm works to find the k-th
smallest element.
 o Answer: Quickselect is a selection algorithm based on partitioning
like quicksort, but only recurs into the partition containing the k-th
element, making it average O(n).
Dropbox
26.Question: How do you rotate a matrix by 90 degrees?
o Answer: Transpose the matrix and then reverse each row (or column
depending on the direction of rotation).
27.Question: Explain how hashing works and a common collision resolution
strategy.
o Answer: Hashing maps data to an array index using a hash function.
Common collision resolution strategies include chaining (linked lists)
and open addressing (linear probing).
28.Question: How do you find the lowest common ancestor in a binary search
tree?
o Answer: Start from the root and traverse down the tree. The first
node that splits the nodes into different subtrees is the LCA.
29.Question: What are AVL trees, and how do they maintain balance?
o Answer: AVL trees are self-balancing BSTs where the heights of two
child subtrees differ by at most one. Rotations (single or double) are
used to maintain balance during insertions and deletions.
30.Question: Describe a hash map and how it differs from a hash set.
o Answer: A hash map stores key-value pairs and allows quick retrieval
based on keys. A hash set only stores keys (no values) and checks for
existence.
Spotify
31.Question: What is a skip list, and how does it improve efficiency over linked
lists?
 o Answer: A skip list augments a linked list with multiple levels,
allowing skips over elements to improve search times to O(log n) on
average, similar to balanced trees.
32.Question: How would you implement a stack using a singly linked list?
o Answer: Use the head of the list as the top of the stack. Push
operations insert at the head, and pop operations remove from the
head.
33.Question: Explain the use of a priority queue and its implementation.
o Answer: A priority queue allows retrieval of the highest (or lowest)
priority element efficiently, typically implemented using heaps.
34.Question: What is memoization, and how does it differ from dynamic
programming?
o Answer: Memoization stores results of expensive function calls and
returns the cached result when the same inputs occur again, while
dynamic programming uses a bottom-up approach to solve
subproblems iteratively.
35.Question: Describe the purpose of a suffix array and its use cases.
o Answer: A suffix array is a sorted array of suffixes of a string used in
string matching, pattern recognition, and solving problems related to
string searches.
Tesla
36.Question: How would you convert a binary search tree into a doubly linked
list?
o Answer: Perform an in-order traversal to rearrange the nodes as a
doubly linked list, setting the left pointers as previous and right
pointers as next.
37.Question: Explain Tarjan’s algorithm for finding strongly connected
components.
 o Answer: Tarjan’s algorithm uses DFS to find SCCs in a directed graph
by tracking discovery times and utilizing a stack to manage
component membership efficiently.
38.Question: How do you implement depth-limited search?
o Answer: Depth-limited search is a modified DFS that limits the depth
of exploration. If the depth limit is reached, the search backtracks.
39.Question: What is backtracking, and where is it used?
o Answer: Backtracking is a method for solving constraint satisfaction
problems, exploring possibilities and backtracking upon reaching a
dead end. It’s used in puzzles, permutations, and combinatorial
problems.
40.Question: How can you sort a nearly sorted (k-sorted) array?
o Answer: Use a min-heap of size k to repeatedly extract the minimum
element and place it in the sorted order, achieving O(n log k)
complexity.
Netflix
41.Question: Describe the steps to delete a node in a binary search tree.
o Answer: To delete a node, adjust pointers based on the node's
children: if no children, remove it; if one child, replace it; if two
children, replace with the in-order successor or predecessor.
42.Question: How do you implement a hash table with separate chaining?
o Answer: Use an array of linked lists where each index (bucket) stores
a linked list of entries that hash to the same index.
43.Question: What is a Trie, and what are its applications?
o Answer: A Trie is a tree-like data structure used for storing strings,
where each node represents a character of a string. It is used in word
searches, autocomplete, and spell checkers.
44.Question: How do you implement a max heap?
 o Answer: A max heap is implemented using an array where each
parent node is greater than its children, and operations like insertion
and deletion maintain the heap property.
45.Question: What is the Rabin-Karp algorithm used for?
o Answer: Rabin-Karp uses hashing to find patterns in text efficiently by
comparing hash values of substrings, making it suitable for multiple
pattern searches.
PayPal
46.Question: How would you handle collisions in a hash map using open
addressing?
o Answer: Open addressing resolves collisions by finding another slot
within the array through methods like linear probing, quadratic
probing, or double hashing.
47.Question: Describe the difference between BFS and DFS.
o Answer: BFS explores level by level, using a queue, and is used for
shortest path and connected components. DFS explores depth-first
using a stack, either explicitly or via recursion, and is used for
topological sorting, cycle detection, and pathfinding.
48.Question: What is the purpose of a sentinel node in linked lists?
o Answer: A sentinel node simplifies boundary conditions by acting as a
dummy node at the head or tail, reducing edge cases for insertions
and deletions.
49.Question: How would you implement a least-recently-used (LRU) cache?
o Answer: Use a combination of a doubly linked list and a hash map,
where the linked list maintains the access order and the hash map
provides quick access to nodes.
50.Question: Explain how graph coloring works and its applications.
 o Answer: Graph coloring assigns colors to vertices such that no two
adjacent vertices share the same color, used in scheduling, register
allocation, and map coloring problems.
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