Chapter 3. Approaches to Programming Problems

Coding questions are generally the meat of an interview. They are your opportunity to demonstrate that you can do the job. These questions are a large component of the process that most computer and software companies use to decide who to hire and who not to hire. Many companies make offers to less than 10 percent of the people who interview with them. The questions are generally rather difficult. If everyone (or even most people) were able to answer a particular question quickly, the company would stop asking it because it wouldn't tell them anything about the applicants. Many of the questions are designed to take up to an hour to solve, so don't get frustrated if you don't see the answer right away. Almost no one does.

These problems are hard! Some of the questions are designed to see how you handle a problem when you don't immediately see the solution.

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