500+ Associate Software Engineer Interview Questions and Answers for Freshers

Calculate total instances of equivalent prime groups in a day divided into equal parts.

• Divide the day into equal parts and find prime numbers in each part.

• Identify prime groups where prime numbers occur at the same position in different parts.

• Return the total number of equivalent prime groups found.

Check if a given string is a palindrome after removing special characters, spaces, and converting to lowercase.

• Remove special characters and spaces from the string

• Convert the string to lowercase

• Check if the modified string is a palindrome by comparing characters from start and end

The function checks whether a given graph is bipartite or not.

• A bipartite graph can be divided into two independent sets such that every edge connects a vertex from one set to the other.

• We can use graph coloring algorithm to check if the graph is bipartite.

• Start by coloring the first vertex with one color and all its neighbors with the other color.

• Continue coloring the remaining vertices, making sure that no adjacent vertices have the same color.

• If at any point, we find that ...read more

The task is to determine the minimum number of platforms needed at a railway station based on arrival and departure times of trains.

• Sort the arrival and departure times in ascending order.

• Use two pointers to keep track of overlapping schedules.

• Increment platform count when a new train arrives before the previous one departs.

Detect and remove loop in a singly linked list in place with O(n) time complexity and O(1) space complexity.

• Use Floyd's Cycle Detection Algorithm to identify the loop in the linked list.

• Once the loop is detected, use two pointers approach to find the start of the loop.

• Adjust the pointers to remove the loop and return the modified linked list.

• Example: For input 5 2 and 1 2 3 4 5, output should be 1 2 3 4 5.

Implement a priority queue using a heap data structure by completing the provided functions: push(), pop(), getMaxElement(), and isEmpty().

• Understand the operations: push() to insert element, pop() to remove largest element, getMaxElement() to return largest element, and isEmpty() to check if queue is empty.

• Implement a heap data structure to maintain the priority queue.

• Handle different types of queries based on the input provided.

• Ensure correct output for each type 3 query.

• Te...read more

Calculate the Nth Fibonacci number efficiently using dynamic programming.

• Use dynamic programming to store previously calculated Fibonacci numbers to avoid redundant calculations.

• Start with base cases F(1) and F(2) as 1, then iterate to calculate subsequent Fibonacci numbers.

• Return the Nth Fibonacci number as the final result.

The question asks to find the length of the shortest contiguous subarray that needs to be sorted in order to sort the whole array.

• Iterate through the array and find the first element that is out of order from the left side.

• Iterate through the array and find the first element that is out of order from the right side.

• Find the minimum and maximum element within the subarray from the above steps.

• Expand the subarray from both sides until all elements within the subarray are in the...read more

The task is to identify constellations shaped like vowels within a matrix filled with characters {#, *, .}.

• Iterate through the matrix to find 3x3 constellations shaped like vowels.

• Check for vowels 'A', 'E', 'I', 'O', 'U' in each 3x3 constellation.

• Print the vowels found in each constellation for each test case.

The task is to determine the maximum profit that can be achieved by performing up to two buy-and-sell transactions on a given set of stock prices.

• Iterate through the array of stock prices to find the maximum profit that can be achieved by buying and selling stocks.

• Keep track of the maximum profit that can be achieved by considering all possible combinations of buy and sell transactions.

• Ensure that you sell the stock before buying again to adhere to the constraints of the prob...read more

Remove vowels from a given string while maintaining the relative position of other characters.

• Iterate through each character in the string and check if it is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u).

• If the character is not a vowel, add it to the modified string.

• Return the modified string as the output.

Replace spaces in a string with '@40'.

• Iterate through the string and replace spaces with '@40'.

• Return the modified string for each test case.

• Handle multiple test cases by iterating through each one.

NullPointerException is a runtime exception that occurs when a program tries to access or use an object reference that is null.

• It is a common exception in Java programming.

• It is thrown when a program attempts to use an object reference that has not been initialized.

• It indicates that there is an attempt to access or invoke a method on an object that is null.

• Example: String str = null; str.length();

The question asks to print the DFS traversal of an undirected and disconnected graph.

• Implement a Depth First Search (DFS) algorithm to traverse the graph.

• Use a visited array to keep track of visited vertices.

• For each unvisited vertex, start a DFS traversal and print the connected component.

• Sort the vertices of each connected component in ascending order before printing.

Check if two binary trees are mirrors of each other based on specific criteria.

• Compare the roots of both trees.

• Check if the left subtree of the first tree is the mirror of the right subtree of the second tree.

• Verify if the right subtree of the first tree is the mirror of the left subtree of the second tree.

The goal is to fill a knapsack with exactly 'M' stones, one of each color, minimizing unused capacity.

• Iterate through stones, keeping track of weights for each color

• Sort stones by weight and color, then select one stone of each color

• Calculate total weight for each combination and minimize unused capacity

• If knapsack cannot be filled, return -1

Find the maximum sum achievable by a simple path between any two nodes in a binary tree.

• Traverse the binary tree to find all possible paths and calculate their sums.

• Keep track of the maximum sum encountered during traversal.

• Consider paths that may include the same node twice.

• Implement a recursive function to explore all paths in the tree.

• Optimize the solution to avoid redundant calculations.

The problem involves settling debts among friends by minimizing total cash flow.

• Create a graph where nodes represent friends and edges represent debts.

• Calculate the net amount each friend owes or is owed by summing up the debts and credits.

• Use a recursive algorithm to settle debts by finding the maximum and minimum amounts owed.

• Repeat the process until all debts are settled.

• Output the total cash flow required to settle all debts.

Swap two numbers 'a' and 'b' and output the swapped values.

• Create a temporary variable to store one of the numbers before swapping

• Swap the values of 'a' and 'b' using the temporary variable

• Output the swapped values as 'b' followed by 'a'

• Example: If 'a' = 3 and 'b' = 4, after swapping 'a' will be 4 and 'b' will be 3

Given a matrix and a non-negative integer K, find the minimum possible sum of all elements in each submatrix after performing at most K decrements.

• Iterate through all submatrices and find the minimum possible sum after performing decrements

• Keep track of the number of decrements performed on each element

• Use dynamic programming to optimize the solution

• Ensure not to decrease any number below 0

• Return the minimum possible sum modulo 10^9 + 7

Remove all vowels from a given string and return the modified string.

• Iterate through each character in the string and check if it is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u or A, E, I, O, U).

• If the character is not a vowel, add it to a new string.

• Return the new string with all vowels removed.

Group anagrams in an array of strings based on their characters.

• Iterate through the array of strings and sort each string to create a key for grouping anagrams.

• Use a hashmap to store the sorted string as key and the list of anagrams as values.

• Return the values of the hashmap as the grouped anagrams.

Implement Merge Sort algorithm to sort a sequence of numbers in non-descending order.

• Divide the input array into two halves recursively until each array has only one element.

• Merge the sorted halves to produce a completely sorted array.

• Time complexity of Merge Sort is O(n log n).

• Example: Input: [3, 1, 4, 1, 5], Output: [1, 1, 3, 4, 5]

Find the minimum time required to rot all fresh oranges in a grid.

• Iterate through the grid to find rotten oranges and their adjacent fresh oranges

• Use BFS or DFS to simulate the rotting process and track the time taken

• Return the minimum time taken to rot all fresh oranges or -1 if not possible

The task is to determine the total number of ways to make change for a specified value using given denominations.

• Create a dynamic programming table to store the number of ways to make change for each value up to the target value.

• Iterate through each denomination and update the table accordingly.

• The final answer will be the value in the table at the target value.

• Consider edge cases such as when the target value is 0 or when there are no denominations available.

Evaluate postfix expressions using a stack to compute results with modular arithmetic.

• Use a stack to store operands as they are encountered.

• When an operator is found, pop the required number of operands from the stack.

• Perform the operation and push the result back onto the stack.

• Ensure to apply modulo (10^9 + 7) to the results.

• Example: For '3 4 +', push 3 and 4, then pop and compute 3 + 4 = 7.

Arrange 10 coconuts in 5 lines with 4 coconuts in each line.

• Arrange 4 coconuts in a straight line and place the remaining 6 coconuts in the gaps between them.

• Place the first 4 coconuts in a line, then place the next 4 coconuts in a line below it, and so on.

• The arrangement would look like this: C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C