HackingaGoogleInterviewHandout1

CourseDescription

Instructors:BillJacobsandCurtisFonger
Time:January1215,5:006:30PMin32124
Website:http://courses.csail.mit.edu/iap/interview

ClassicQuestion#1:CoinPuzzle

Youhave8coinswhichareallthesameweight,exceptforonewhichisslightly
heavierthantheothers(youdon'tknowwhichcoinisheavier).Youalsohavean
oldstylebalance,whichallowsyoutoweightwopilesofcoinstoseewhichoneis
heavier(oriftheyareofequalweight).Whatisthefewestnumberofweighings
thatyoucanmakewhichwilltellyouwhichcoinistheheavierone?

Goodanswer:Weigh3coinsagainst3coins.Ifoneofthegroupsisheavier,weigh
oneofitscoinsagainstanotheroneofitscoins;thisallowsyoutoidentifytheheavy
coin.Ifthetwogroupsbalance,weighthetwoleftovercoins.

Notsogoodanswer:Weigh4coinsagainst4coins.Discardthelightercoins,and
weigh2coinsagainst2coins.Discardthelightercoinsandweightheremaining
twocoins.

Interviewtips

Whenaskedaquestion,openadialogwiththeinterviewer.Letthemknowwhat
youarethinking.Youmight,forexample,suggestasloworpartialsolution(let
themknowthatthesolutionisnotideal),mentionsomeobservationsaboutthe
problem,orsayanyideasyouhavethatmightleadtoasolution.Often,interviewers
willgivehintsifyouappeartobestuck.

Often,youwillbeaskedtowriteaprogramduringaninterview.Forsomereason,
interviewersusuallyhavepeoplewriteprogramsonablackboardoronasheetof
paperratherthanonacomputer.Itisgoodtogetpracticewithwritingcodeonthe
boardinordertobepreparedforthis.

Hereisalistof"do's"and"don't's"whendoingaprogramminginterview:

Do's
Askforclarificationonaproblemifyoudidn'tunderstandsomethingorif
thereisanyambiguity

Lettheinterviewerknowwhatyouarethinking
Suggestmultipleapproachestotheproblem
Bounceideasofftheinterviewer(suchasideasfordatastructuresor
algorithms)
Ifyougetstuck,don'tbeafraidtoletthemknowandpolitelyaskforahint

Don't's
Nevergiveup!Thissaysnothinggoodaboutyourproblemsolvingskills.
Don'tjustsitinsilencewhilethinking.Theinterviewerhaslimitedtimeto
findoutasmuchaspossibleaboutyou,andnottalkingwiththemtellsthem
nothing,exceptthatyoucansittheresilently.
Ifyoualreadyknowtheanswer,don'tjustblurtitout!Theywillsuspectthat
youalreadyknewtheansweranddidn'ttellthemyou'veseenthequestion
before.Atleastpretendtobethinkingthoughtheproblembeforeyougive
theanswer!

BigONotation

BigOnotationisawaythatprogrammersusetodeterminehowtherunningspeed
ofanalgorithmisaffectedastheinputsizeisincreased.Wesaythatanalgorithmis
O(n)ifincreasingtheinputsizeresultsinalinearincreaseinrunningtime.For
example,ifwehaveanalgorithmthattakesanarrayofintegersandincrements
eachintegerby1,thatalgorithmwilltaketwiceaslongtorunonanarrayofsize
200thanonanarrayofsize100.

Nowlet'slookatanalgorithmofrunningtimeO(n^2).ConsiderthefollowingJava
code:

boolean hasDuplicate(int[] array) {

for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < array.length; j++) {
if (array[i] == array[j] && i != j) {
return true;
}
}
}
return false;
}

Thisalgorithmtakesinanarrayofintegersandcompareseachintegertoevery
otherinteger,returningtrueiftwointegersareequal,otherwisereturningfalse.
ThisarraytakesO(n^2)runningtimebecauseeachelementhastobecompared
withnelements(wherenisthelengthofthearray).Therefore,ifwedoublethe
inputsize,wequadrupletherunningtime.

ThereisalsoamoreformaldefinitionofbigOnotation,butweprefertheintuitive
approachforthepurposesofprogramminginterviews.

Question:Searchingthroughanarray

Givenasortedarrayofintegers,howcanyoufindthelocationofaparticularinteger
x?

Goodanswer:Usebinarysearch.Comparethenumberinthemiddleofthearray
withx.Ifitisequal,wearedone.Ifthenumberisgreater,weknowtolookinthe
secondhalfofthearray.Ifitissmaller,weknowtolookinthefirsthalf.Wecan
repeatthesearchontheappropriatehalfofthearraybycomparingthemiddle
elementofthatarraywithx,onceagainnarrowingoursearchbyafactorof2.We
repeatthisprocessuntilwefindx.ThisalgorithmtakesO(logn)time.

Notsogoodanswer:Gothrougheachnumberinorderandcompareittox.This
algorithmtakesO(n)time.

Parallelism

Threadsandprocesses:

Acomputerwilloftenappeartobedoingmanythingssimultaneously,suchas
checkingfornewemailmessages,savingaWorddocument,andloadingawebsite.
Eachprogramisaseparate"process".Eachprocesshasoneormore"threads."Ifa
processhasseveralthreads,theyappeartorunsimultaneously.Forexample,ane
mailclientmayhaveonethreadthatchecksfornewemailmessagesandone
threadfortheGUIsothatitcanshowabuttonbeingpressed.Infact,onlyone
threadisbeingrunatanygiventime.Theprocessorswitchesbetweenthreadsso
quicklythattheyappeartoberunningsimultaneously.

Multiplethreadsinasingleprocesshaveaccesstothesamememory.Bycontrast,
multipleprocesseshaveseparateregionsofmemoryandcanonlycommunicateby
specialmechanisms.Theprocessorloadsandsavesaseparatesetofregistersfor
eachthread.

Remember,eachprocesshasoneormorethreads,andtheprocessorswitches
betweenthreads.

Mutexesandsemaphores:

Amutexislikealock.Mutexesareusedinparallelprogrammingtoensurethatonly
onethreadcanaccessasharedresourceatatime.Forexample,sayonethreadis
modifyinganarray.Whenithasgottenhalfwaythroughthearray,theprocessor
switchestoanotherthread.Ifwewerenotusingmutexes,thethreadmighttryto
modifythearrayaswell,whichisprobablynotwhatwewant.


Topreventthis,wecoulduseamutex.Conceptually,amutexisanintegerthat
startsat1.Wheneverathreadneedstoalterthearray,it"locks"themutex.This
causesthethreadtowaituntilthenumberispositiveandthendecreasesitbyone.
Whenthethreadisdonemodifyingthearray,it"unlocks"themutex,causingthe
numbertoincreaseby1.Ifwearesuretolockthemutexbeforemodifyingthe
arrayandtounlockitwhenwearedone,thenweknowthatnotwothreadswill
modifythearrayatthesametime.

Semaphoresaremoregeneralthanmutexes.Theydifferonlyinthatasemaphore's
integermaystartatanumbergreaterthan1.Thenumberatwhichasemaphore
startsisthenumberofthreadsthatmayaccesstheresourceatonce.Semaphores
support"wait"and"signal"operations,whichareanalogoustothe"lock"and
"unlock"operationsofmutexes.

Synchronizedmethods(inJava):

Anotherfavoritequestionofinterviewersis,"Whatisasynchronizedmethodin
Java?"EachobjectinJavahasitsownmutex.Wheneverasynchronizedmethodis
called,themutexislocked.Whenthemethodisfinished,themutexisunlocked.
Thisensuresthatonlyonesynchronizedmethodiscalledatatimeonagivenobject.

Deadlock:

Deadlockisaproblemthatsometimesarisesinparallelprogramming.Itistypified
bythefollowing,whichissupposedlyalawthatcamebeforetheKansaslegislature:

"Whentwotrainsapproacheachotheratacrossing,bothshallcometoafullstop
andneithershallstartupagainuntiltheotherhasgone."

Strangeasthissounds,asimilarsituationcanoccurwhenusingmutexes.Saywe
havetwothreadsrunningthefollowingcode:

Thread1:

acquire(lock1);
acquire(lock2);
[dostuff]
release(lock1);
release(lock2);

Thread2:

acquire(lock2);
acquire(lock1);
[dostuff]

release(lock2);
release(lock1);

Supposethatthread1isexecutedtojustafterthefirststatement.Then,the
processorswitchestothread2andexecutesbothstatements.Then,theprocessor
switchesbacktothread1andexecutesthesecondstatement.Inthissituation,
thread1willbewaitingforthread2toreleaselock1,andthread2willbewaiting
forthread1toreleaselock2.Boththreadswillbestuckindefinitely.Thisiscalled
deadlock.

ClassicQuestion#2:PreventingDeadlock

Howcanweensurethatdeadlockdoesnotoccur?

Answer:Therearemanypossibleanswerstothisproblem,buttheanswerthe
interviewerwillbelookingforisthis:wecanpreventdeadlockifweassignanorder
toourlocksandrequirethatlocksalwaysbeacquiredinorder.Forexample,ifa
threadneedstoacquirelocks1,5,and2,itmustacquirelock1,followedbylock2,
followedbylock5.Thatwaywepreventonethreadtryingtoacquirelock1then
lock2,andanotherthreadtryingtoacquirelock2thenlock1,whichcouldcause
deadlock.(Notethatthisapproachisnotusedveryofteninpractice.)

SomeOtherTopics

Whatispolymorphism?

Interviewerslovetoaskpeoplethisquestionpointblank,andthereareseveral
possibleanswers.Forafulldiscussionofallthetypesofpolymorphism,we
recommendlookingatitsWikipediapage.However,webelievethatagoodanswer
tothisquestionisthatpolymorphismistheabilityofonemethodtohavedifferent
behaviordependingonthetypeofobjectitisbeingcalledonorthetypeofobject
beingpassedasaparameter.Forexample,ifwedefinedourown"MyInteger"class
andwantedtodefinean"add"methodforit(toaddthatintegerwithanother
number),wewouldwantthefollowingcodetowork:

MyInteger int1 = new MyInteger(5);

MyInteger int2 = new MyInteger(7);
MyFloat float1 = new MyFloat(3.14);
MyDouble doub1 = new MyDouble(2.71);
print(int1.add(int2));
print(int1.add(float1));
print(int1.add(doub1));

Inthisexample,calling"add"willresultindifferentbehaviordependingonthetype
oftheinput.

Whatisavirtualfunction/method?(inC++)

OutofallthepossiblequestionsinterviewerscouldaskaboutC++,thisoneseemsto
beastrangefavorite.Amethod'sbeing"virtual"simplydescribesitsbehaviorwhen
workingwithsuperclassesandsubclasses.AssumeclassBisasubclassofclassA.
AlsoassumebothclassesAandBhaveamethod"bar()".Let'ssaywehavethe
followingcodeinC++:

A *foo = new B();

foo->bar();

Ifthemethod"bar()"isdeclaredtobevirtual,thenwhenwecallfoo>bar(),the
methodfoundinclassBwillberun.ThisishowJavaalwayshandlesmethodsand
it'susuallywhatwewanttohappen.However,ifthemethodbar()isnotdeclaredto
bevirtual,thenthiscodewillrunthemethodfoundinclassAwhenwecall
foo>bar().

ClassicQuestion#3:AtoI

Writeafunctiontoconvertastringintoaninteger.(ThisfunctioniscalledAtoI(or
atoi())becauseweareconvertinganASCIIstringintoaninteger.)

Goodanswer:Gothroughthestringfrombeginningtoend.Ifthefirstcharacterisa
negativesign,rememberthisfact.Keeparunningtotal,whichstartsat0.Eachtime
youreachanewdigit,multiplythetotalby10andaddthenewdigit.Whenyou
reachtheend,returnthecurrenttotal,or,iftherewasanegativesign,theinverseof
thenumber.

Okayanswer:Anotherapproachistogothroughthestringfromendtobeginning,
againkeepingarunningtotal.Also,rememberanumberxrepresentingwhichdigit
youarecurrentlyon;xisinitially1.Foreachcharacter,addthecurrentdigittimesx
totherunningtotal,andmultiplyxby10.Whenyoureachthebeginning,returnthe
currenttotal,or,iftherewasanegativesign,theinverseofthenumber.

Note:Theinterviewerislikelytoaskyouaboutthelimitationsofyourapproach.
Youshouldmentionthatitonlyworksifthestringconsistsofanoptionalnegative
signfollowedbydigits.Also,mentionthatifthenumberistoobig,theresultwillbe
incorrectduetooverflow.