Thomson Reuters News Correspondent Interview Questions and Answers

Find an odd occurring number among even occurring numbers.

• Use XOR operation to cancel out even occurring numbers and get the odd occurring number.

• Iterate through the array and XOR each element with the result variable.

• The final result will be the odd occurring number.

Print the spiral order of a binary tree and matrix.

• For binary tree, use level order traversal and alternate direction for each level.

• For matrix, use four pointers to traverse in spiral order.

• Example for binary tree: 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 9

• Example for matrix: 1 2 3 4 -> 8 7 6 5 -> 9 10 11 12 -> 16 15 14 13

Finding pairs in an array with a given sum.

• Iterate through the array and for each element, check if the difference between the given sum and the element exists in the array.

• Use a hash table to store the elements of the array and their indices for faster lookup.

• If there are multiple pairs with the same sum, return any one of them.

• If no pair is found, return null or an empty array.

Find total number of k element with given avg in an array in minimum time complexity.

• Use sliding window technique to traverse the array in O(n) time complexity.

• Maintain a sum variable to keep track of the sum of elements in the window.

• If the sum of elements in the window is equal to k times the given avg, increment the count.

• Move the window by subtracting the first element and adding the next element in the array.

Printing non-boundary elements of a binary tree

• Traverse the tree in any order (preorder, inorder, postorder)

• Check if the current node is not a boundary node (not the first or last node in its level)

• If it is not a boundary node, print its value

• Recursively traverse its left and right subtrees

To determine if a point is inside a polygon, use the ray casting algorithm.

• Create a line from the point to a point outside the polygon

• Count the number of times the line intersects with the polygon edges

• If the count is odd, the point is inside the polygon; otherwise, it is outside

The four storage classes in C are auto, register, static, and extern.

• Auto: default storage class for all local variables

• Register: used to define local variables that should be stored in a register instead of RAM

• Static: used to define local variables that retain their value between function calls

• Extern: used to declare a global variable that is defined in another file

i is stored in global data segment, j is stored in stack, k is stored in heap.

• i is a global variable and is stored in the global data segment

• j is a local variable and is stored in the stack

• k is a pointer variable and is stored in the stack, while the memory it points to is allocated on the heap using malloc()

Use a hash table to store the words and check for existence in constant time.

• Create a hash table with the words as keys and a boolean value as the value.

• For each new word, check if it exists in the hash table. If it does, it has appeared before. If not, add it to the hash table.

• Alternatively, use a set data structure to store only the unique words and check for existence in the set.

Return all root to leaf node paths in a binary tree with row, col and value.

• Traverse the binary tree recursively and keep track of the current path.

• When a leaf node is reached, add the path to the result array.

• Include row, col and value of each node in the path.

• Use an array of strings to store the paths.

To get max value from a stack in O(1), maintain a separate stack to keep track of maximum values.

• Create a separate stack to keep track of maximum values

• Push the maximum value onto the stack whenever a new maximum is encountered

• Pop the maximum value stack whenever the top element of the main stack is popped

• Return the top element of the maximum value stack to get the maximum value in O(1)

To get max element from a queue in O(1) time complexity

• Maintain a separate variable to keep track of the maximum element in the queue

• Update the maximum element variable whenever a new element is added or removed from the queue

• Return the maximum element variable when getMax() function is called

Find the Next Greatest Element to the right for each element in an array of strings.

• Iterate through the array from right to left

• Use a stack to keep track of elements

• Pop elements from stack until a greater element is found

• If no greater element is found, assign -1

• Return the result array

To remove unnecessary parenthesis from an expression, we need to apply a set of rules to identify and eliminate them.

• Identify and remove parenthesis around single variables or constants

• Identify and remove parenthesis around expressions with only one operator

• Identify and remove parenthesis around expressions with operators of equal precedence

• Identify and remove parenthesis around expressions with operators of different ...read more

Find the maximum product of three integers in an array.

• Sort the array in descending order.

• Check the product of the first three numbers and the product of the first and last two numbers.

• Return the maximum of the two products.

Find length of longest consecutive sub array forming an AP from given array of integers.

• Sort the array in ascending order

• Iterate through the array and find the longest consecutive sub array forming an AP

• Use a variable to keep track of the length of the current consecutive sub array forming an AP

• Use another variable to keep track of the length of the longest consecutive sub array forming an AP seen so far

Operating on images in parallel involves dividing the image into smaller parts and processing them simultaneously.

• Divide the image into smaller parts using techniques like tiling or splitting

• Use parallel processing techniques like multi-threading or GPU acceleration

• Combine the processed parts to form the final image

• Examples: image segmentation, object detection, image enhancement

Hardware engines support parallelism through multiple cores and threads.

• Hardware engines can have multiple cores and threads to execute tasks simultaneously.

• Parallelism can improve performance and efficiency in hardware-based tasks.

• Examples include GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs that have parallel processing capabilities.

• Hardware parallelism can also be achieved through distributed computing and clustering.

• Programming language...read more

Modern OSes support parallelism through multi-core processors and threading.

• Modern OSes like Windows, macOS, and Linux support parallelism through multi-core processors and threading.

• Parallelism can be achieved through processes or threads.

• Parallelism can improve performance and efficiency of software.

• Examples of parallel programming frameworks include OpenMP and MPI.

Memory protection is a feature of an operating system that prevents unauthorized access to memory locations.

• Memory protection is achieved through the use of memory management units (MMUs) and virtual memory.

• MMUs map virtual addresses to physical addresses and enforce access permissions.

• Virtual memory allows the OS to allocate memory to processes in a way that isolates them from each other.

• Examples of memory protection ...read more

To speed up multiplication of small integers in an array, we can use bitwise operations and parallel processing.

• Use bitwise operations like shifting and ANDing to perform multiplication faster.

• Divide the array into smaller chunks and perform multiplication in parallel using multi-threading or SIMD instructions.

• Use lookup tables for frequently used values to avoid repeated calculations.

• Use compiler optimizations like lo...read more

Design a data structure for excel spreadsheet

• Use a 2D array to store cell values

• Implement formulas using a stack

• Include formatting options for cells

Insertion sort and quicksort are sorting algorithms used to sort arrays of data.

• Insertion sort: iterates through the array and inserts each element into its proper position.

• Quicksort: selects a pivot element and partitions the array into two sub-arrays, one with elements less than the pivot and one with elements greater than the pivot.

• Insertion sort is best for small arrays, while quicksort is best for large arrays.

• Bot...read more

Merge two sorted linked lists using recursion

• Create a recursive function that compares the first nodes of both lists

• Set the smaller node as the head of the merged list and call the function again with the next node of the smaller list

• Base case: if one list is empty, return the other list

• Return the merged list

Given an integer, determine which byte is zero.

• Convert the integer to a byte array using bitwise operations.

• Iterate through the byte array and check for a zero value.

• Return the index of the zero byte.

• Consider endianness when converting to byte array.

To check endianness, create a 4-byte integer with a known value and check the byte order.

• Create a 4-byte integer with a known value

• Check the value of the first byte to determine endianness

• If the first byte is the least significant, the machine is little endian

• If the first byte is the most significant, the machine is big endian

Static objects can be used to print something before main() execution.

• Static objects are initialized before main() execution

• They can be used to print something before main()

• Example: static int x = printf("Hello World!");

• Output: Hello World! will be printed before main() execution

Static variables are allocated memory in the data segment of the program's memory space.

• Static variables have a fixed memory location throughout the program's execution.

• They are initialized to zero by default.

• If initialized explicitly, they are stored in the data segment.

• Static variables can be accessed by any function in the program.

Finding space and time complexity of a recursive function.

• Space complexity is the amount of memory used by the function.

• Time complexity is the amount of time taken by the function to execute.

• Recursive functions have higher space complexity due to the call stack.

• Time complexity can be calculated using Big O notation.

• Examples of recursive functions include factorial and Fibonacci sequence.

Diamond hierarchy problem is a problem in object-oriented programming where a class inherits from multiple classes in a diamond-shaped hierarchy.

• Occurs when a class inherits from two classes that share a common base class

• Can lead to ambiguity in method calls and data members

• Solved using virtual inheritance or by using interfaces