Cadence Design Systems Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Standard Data Structures and Algorithms round . One has to be fairly comfortable in solving algorithmic problems to pass this round with ease.

Q1. 
Find All Pairs with Given Sum
Given an integer array arr and an integer Sum, count and return the total number of pairs in the array whose elements add up to the given Sum.
Input:
The first line contain...read more
Ans. 
Count and return the total number of pairs in the array whose elements add up to a given sum.
• Use a hashmap to store the frequency of each element in the array.

• Iterate through the array and for each element, check if (Sum - current element) exists in the hashmap.

• Increment the count of pairs if the complement exists in the hashmap.
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Q2. 
Minimum Number of Jumps Problem
Given an array ARR of N integers, determine the minimum number of jumps required to reach the last index of the array (i.e., N - 1). From any index i, you can jump to an in...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves finding the minimum number of jumps required to reach the last index of an array, where each element indicates the maximum distance that can be jumped from that position.
• Use a greedy approach to keep track of the farthest reachable index and the current end of the jump.

• Iterate through the array, updating the farthest reachable index and incrementing the jump count when necessary.

• Return the jump cou...read more
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Round duration - 70 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round was preety intense and went for over 1 hour . I was asked 2 preety good coding questions (one was from Graphs and the other one was from DP) . After that I was grilled on my Computer Networks and Operating System concepts but luckily I was able to answer all the questions and the interviewer was also quite impressed.

Q1. 
Two Teams (Check Whether Graph is Bipartite or Not)
Determine if a given undirected graph can be divided into exactly two disjoint cliques. Print 1 if possible, otherwise print 0.
Input:
The first line ...read more
Ans. 
Check if a given undirected graph can be divided into exactly two disjoint cliques.
• Create an adjacency list to represent the graph

• Use BFS or DFS to check if the graph is bipartite

• If the graph is bipartite, it can be divided into two disjoint cliques
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Q2. 
Maximum Length Pair Chain Problem
You are provided with 'N' pairs of integers, where the first number in each pair is less than the second number, i.e., in pair (a, b) -> a < b. A pair chain is defi...read more
Ans. 
Find the length of the longest pair chain that can be formed using the provided pairs.
• Sort the pairs based on the second number in each pair.

• Iterate through the sorted pairs and keep track of the maximum chain length.

• Update the maximum chain length based on the conditions given in the problem statement.
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Q3. Can you explain the TCP/IP Protocol?
Ans. 
TCP/IP is a set of rules governing the exchange of data over the internet.
• TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

• It is a suite of communication protocols used to connect devices on the internet.

• TCP ensures that data is delivered reliably and in order, while IP handles the addressing and routing of data packets.

• Examples of TCP/IP applications include web browsing (HTTP), email (SMTP), and file
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Q4. Can you explain the DHCP Protocol?
Ans. 
DHCP Protocol is used to automatically assign IP addresses to devices on a network.
• DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

• It allows devices to obtain IP addresses and other network configuration information dynamically

• DHCP servers assign IP addresses to devices for a specific lease period

• DHCP uses a client-server model where the client requests an IP address and the server assigns one

• DHCP uses UDP port 67 f
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Q5. What is meant by multitasking and multithreading in operating systems?
Ans. 
Multitasking involves running multiple tasks concurrently, while multithreading allows multiple threads within a single process to run concurrently.
• Multitasking allows multiple processes to run concurrently on a single processor, switching between them quickly.

• Multithreading allows multiple threads within a single process to run concurrently, sharing resources like memory and CPU time.

• Multitasking is at the process lev...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Hard

This round majorly focused on past projects and experiences from my Resume and some standard System Design + LLD questions + some basic OOPS questions which a SDE-2 is expected to know .

Q1. How would you design a system like Pastebin?
Ans. 
Design a system like Pastebin for sharing text snippets
• Use a web application framework like Django or Flask for the backend

• Store text snippets in a database like MySQL or MongoDB

• Generate unique URLs for each snippet to share with others

• Implement features like syntax highlighting, expiration time, and password protection

• Consider implementing user accounts for managing and organizing snippets
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Q2. What is data abstraction and how can it be achieved?
Ans. 
Data abstraction is the process of hiding implementation details and showing only the necessary features of an object.
• Data abstraction can be achieved through classes and objects in object-oriented programming.

• It involves creating a class with private data members and public methods to access and modify those data members.

• By using data abstraction, users can interact with objects without needing to know the internal wo...read more
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Q3. What is the Diamond Problem in C++ and how can it be resolved?
Ans. 
Diamond Problem is a common issue in multiple inheritance in C++ where a class inherits from two classes that have a common base class.
• Diamond Problem occurs when a class inherits from two classes that have a common base class, leading to ambiguity in accessing members.

• It can be resolved in C++ using virtual inheritance, where the common base class is inherited virtually to avoid duplicate copies of base class members.

• ...read more
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Q4. What are friend functions in C++?
Ans. 
Friend functions in C++ are functions that are not members of a class but have access to its private and protected members.
• Friend functions are declared inside a class with the keyword 'friend'.

• They can access private and protected members of the class they are friends with.

• Friend functions are not member functions of the class.

• They can be standalone functions or functions of another class.

• Example: friend void displayD
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General aptitude questions multiple choice

Questions related to Verilog, college projects

Q1. Questions around SystemVerilog specially oops concepts
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Q1. What is your family background?
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Q2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
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Q3. Tell me about yourself.
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Round duration - 75 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This was an online coding round where I had 2 questions to solve under 75 minutes. Both the coding questions were related to DP and were of Medium to Hard level of difficulty.

Q1. 
Longest Common Prime Subsequence Problem Statement
Imagine Ninja is tackling a puzzle during his long summer vacation. He has two arrays of integers, each with lengths 'N' and 'M'. Ninja's task is to dete...read more
Ans. 
Find the length of the longest subsequence common to two arrays consisting only of prime numbers.
• Iterate through both arrays to find prime numbers

• Use dynamic programming to find the longest common subsequence

• Consider edge cases like empty arrays or no common prime numbers
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Q2. 
Maximum Sum Problem Statement
You are given an array ARR of N integers. Your task is to perform operations on this array until it becomes empty, and maximize the sum of selected elements. In each operatio...read more
Ans. 
Given an array, select elements to maximize sum by removing adjacent elements. Return the maximum sum.
• Iterate through the array and keep track of the frequency of each element.

• Select the element with the highest frequency first, then remove adjacent elements.

• Repeat the process until the array becomes empty and calculate the sum of selected elements.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round had 2 Algorithmic questions wherein I was supposed to code both the problems after discussing their approaches and respective time and space complexities . After that , I was grilled on some OOPS concepts related to C++.

Q1. 
Cycle Detection in a Linked List
Your task is to determine if a given Singly Linked List of integers forms a cycle.
Explanation: A cycle in a linked list occurs when there is a node in the list that conn...read more
Ans. 
Detect if a given singly linked list of integers forms a cycle.
• Use Floyd's Tortoise and Hare algorithm to detect cycle in linked list

• Maintain two pointers, one moving at double the speed of the other

• If they meet at some point, there is a cycle in the linked list
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Q2. 
Check If Preorder Traversal Is Valid
Determine whether a given array ARR of positive integers is a valid Preorder Traversal of a Binary Search Tree (BST).
A binary search tree (BST) is a tree structure w...read more
Ans. 
Check if a given array of positive integers is a valid Preorder Traversal of a Binary Search Tree (BST).
• Create a stack to keep track of nodes.

• Iterate through the array and compare each element with the top of the stack.

• If the current element is less than the top of the stack, push it onto the stack.

• If the current element is greater than the top of the stack, pop elements from the stack until a greater element is found ...read more
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Q3. What are Vtable and VPTR in C++?
Ans. 
Vtable and VPTR are used in C++ for implementing polymorphism through virtual functions.
• Vtable (Virtual Table) is a table of function pointers used to implement dynamic dispatch for virtual functions.

• VPTR (Virtual Pointer) is a pointer that points to the Vtable of an object.

• Vtable is created by the compiler for each class that has virtual functions.

• VPTR is added as a hidden member in each object of a class with virtual...read more
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Q4. What are friend functions in C++?
Ans. 
Friend functions in C++ are functions that are not members of a class but have access to its private and protected members.
• Friend functions are declared inside a class with the keyword 'friend'.

• They can access private and protected members of the class.

• They are not member functions of the class, but have the same access rights as member functions.

• Friend functions are useful when you want to allow a function external to
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This was also a DS/Algo round where I was given 2 questions to solve and I was expected to come up with the optimal approach as far as possible. I solved both the questions with the optimal time and space complexities and then I was asked some more questions related to DBMS towards the end of the interview.

Q1. 
Top View of a Binary Tree
You are given a binary tree. Your task is to print the Top View of the Binary Tree, displaying the nodes from left to right order.
Input:
The first line contains an integer 't'...read more
Ans. 
The task is to print the Top View of a Binary Tree from left to right order.
• Use a map to store the horizontal distance of each node from the root.

• Perform a level order traversal of the tree and keep track of the horizontal distance of each node.

• Print the nodes in the map in ascending order of their horizontal distance.

• Handle the case where multiple nodes have the same horizontal distance by printing the one that appear
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Q2. 
Count Palindromic Substrings Problem Statement
Given a string STR, determine the total number of palindromic substrings within STR.
Input:
The first line contains an integer 't' representing the number ...read more
Ans. 
Count the total number of palindromic substrings in a given string.
• Iterate through each character in the string and expand around it to find palindromic substrings.

• Use dynamic programming to store previously calculated palindromic substrings.

• Consider both odd and even length palindromes while counting.

• Example: For input 'abbc', palindromic substrings are ['a', 'b', 'b', 'c', 'bb']. Total count is 5.
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Q3. What is the difference between the DELETE and TRUNCATE commands in a DBMS?
Ans. 
DELETE removes specific rows from a table, while TRUNCATE removes all rows and resets auto-increment values.
• DELETE is a DML command, while TRUNCATE is a DDL command.

• DELETE can be rolled back, while TRUNCATE cannot be rolled back.

• DELETE triggers delete triggers, while TRUNCATE does not trigger any triggers.

• DELETE is slower as it maintains logs, while TRUNCATE is faster as it does not maintain logs.

• Example: DELETE FROM t
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Q4. What is meant by normalization and denormalization?
Ans. 
Normalization is the process of organizing data in a database to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity, while denormalization is the process of intentionally introducing redundancy to improve performance.
• Normalization involves breaking down a table into smaller tables and defining relationships between them to reduce redundancy and dependency.

• Denormalization involves combining tables and duplicating data to impr...read more
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DSA C++ basic question