Cracking the Coding Interview - Fooo

What You Need To Know
Before the Interview | Technical Preparation
Most interviewers won’t ask about specific algorithms for binary tree balancing or other
complex algorithms Frankly, they probably don’t remember these algorithms either
You’re usually only expected to know the basics Here’s a list of the absolute must-have
knowledge:
Data Structures Algorithms Concepts
Linked Lists Breadth First Search Bit Manipulation
Binary Trees Depth First Search Singleton Design Pattern
Tries Binary Search Factory Design Pattern
Stacks Merge Sort Memory (Stack vs Heap)
Queues Quick Sort Recursion
Vectors / ArrayLists Tree Insert / Find / etc Big-O Time
Hash Tables
This is not, of course, an all-inclusive list Questions may be asked on areas outside of these
topics This is merely a “must know” list
For each of the topics, make sure you understand how to implement / use them, and (where
applicable) the space and time complexity
Practicing implementing the data structures and algorithms You might be asked to implement
them in your interview, or you might be asked to implement a modification of them
Either way, the more comfortable you are with implementations the better
Do you need to know details of C++, Java, etc?
While I personally never liked asking these sorts of questions (e g , “what is a vtable?”), many
interviewers regretfully do ask them For big companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc,
I wouldn’t stress too much about these questions Look up the most common questions and
make sure you have answers to them, but I would focus on data structures and algorithms
preparation
At smaller companies, or non-software companies, these questions can be more important
Look up your company on CareerCup com to decide for yourself If your company isn’t listed,
look up a similar company as a reference
CareerCup com
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