Algorithm Design Flashcards
6 cards from real CodeSignal Technical Assessment practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Algorithm Design flashcards as text
What is the two-pointer technique?
Answer: Using two pointers moving toward each other or in the same direction to solve array problems efficiently
The two-pointer technique reduces time complexity by processing elements from both ends or tracking two positions simultaneously.
What is the sliding window technique?
Answer: Maintaining a window of elements that slides through an array to solve subarray/substring problems
The sliding window maintains a contiguous subset of elements and slides through the data to find optimal subarrays.
What is memoization?
Answer: Caching results of expensive function calls to avoid recomputation
Memoization stores previously computed results so that identical function calls return cached results instead of recomputing.
What is the greedy algorithm approach?
Answer: Making the locally optimal choice at each step hoping to find the global optimum
Greedy algorithms build solutions incrementally by always choosing the best available option at each step.
What is Big O notation?
Answer: A mathematical notation describing the upper bound of an algorithms time or space complexity
Big O describes the worst-case growth rate of an algorithm as input size increases.
What is the difference between BFS and DFS?
Answer: BFS explores level by level using a queue; DFS explores as deep as possible using a stack
BFS uses a queue to visit neighbors first, while DFS uses a stack to go deep before backtracking.