Ruby Interview Questions: Problem Walkthroughs

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Ruby Interview Questions: Problem Walkthroughs

We’ve talked a bit about interviewing with Ruby and the basic tools of the game. In this article, we will consider some harder interview questions that ask us to apply some of the concepts we have learned thus far. The point here isn’t just to learn how to implement the solutions to the problems, but the train of thought that leads to a solution.

The problem you are presented with while you stand nervously at the whiteboard (by the way, whiteboard coding sucks) might be very different from the stuff you’ve already seen, but if you truly understand the motivation behind the solutions, you’ll be fine. Without further ado, let’s look at our first problem.

Closest Ancestors

Here’s the first problem:

Given two nodes within a binary tree, find their lowest common ancestor.

Where the lowest common ancestor is the first node (i.e. one with minimum distance) that both given nodes have in common as an ancestor. OK, let’s think through this thing.

Say we’re dealing with nodes N1 and N2. If want to find the lowest common ancestor, we can imagine moving up the list of ancestors from both N1 and N2 and checking if either of them match. However, what order to go up the ancestors in (e.g. go through all of N1’s first or N2’s first or do it intermittently) is an issue, especially if N1 is at the very “left” side of the tree and N2 is at the far right. Let’s try thinking about this another way.

Say we’ve found the solution, i.e. the lowest common ancestor is the node R. Then, what properties does does R have to satisfy? It must have N1 as a descendant and it must also have N2 as a descendant. If only one or neither of these is true, then we know that the node cannot be the least common ancestor. Furthermore, R must be the lowest node within the tree that has this property. Looking at the solving condition gives us an idea: what if we traverse the tree, check if each node has N1 and N2 as descendants as part of our traversal and return (i.e. bubble up through our recursion) the lowest node that satisfies this property. There’s just one issue: what if N2 is one of the children (or descendants) of N1? To solve this problem and provide a base case for the recursion, we check if the current node is either N1 or N2 and, if it is, it must be the lowest common ancestor!

That explanation might seem a bit confusing and “hand wavy” but the code makes it much more clear:

def get_lca(root, n1, n2)
  return nil if root == nil
  return root if root == n1 || root == n2
  left_lca = get_lca(root.left, n1, n2)
  right_lca = get_lca(root.right, n1, n2)
  return root if (left_lca != nil and right_lca != nil)
  if left_lca != nil then return left_lca else return right_lca end
end

We can test this with a simple tree of height three:

grandchild1 = TreeNode.new(4, nil, nil)
grandchild2 = TreeNode.new(5, nil, nil)
grandchild3 = TreeNode.new(6, nil, nil)
grandchild4 = TreeNode.new(7, nil, nil)
child1 = TreeNode.new(2, grandchild1, grandchild2)
child2 = TreeNode.new(3, grandchild3, grandchild4)
root = TreeNode.new(1, child1, child2)
puts get_lca(root, grandchild1, grandchild2).value
=> 2
puts get_lca(root, grandchild3, grandchild4).value
=> 3
puts get_lca(root, grandchild1, grandchild3).value
=> 1

Let’s break down the algorithm. If the root is nil, then that means we’ve just been handed an empty tree through the recursion or by the initial call. If the root is nil, there can’t possibly be a lowest common ancestor for N1 and N2 (which we assume are non-nil because if they are nil, the problem does not have a well-defined answer).

Then, we have our “second” base case: we return the root if the root is either one of N1 or N2. This is due to the fact that this situation implies that the N1 or N2 must be an ancestor of the other one (i.e. N2 or N1). If we still aren’t done, then we search the left and right subtrees. If there is a non-nil return value, this means that N1 or N2 (or an ancestor of both) was found in the subtree. If the left subtree contains N1 and the right subtree contains N2, then the current root node must be the LCA (try to convince yourself of this using an inductive argument). If only one of them isn’t nil, then that side must be the correct LCA.

It’s also instructive to see the inductive proof for why this approach works. We’ve hand-waved some bits of it so an outline of it will help clear up the concept behind the algorithm. Our goal is to show that get_lca does in fact return the lowest common ancestor of the nodes N1 and N2. We’ll also assume that N1 is not the same as N2; this is an easy issue to resolve but will just make the argument a little bit more complicated so we’ll avoid it. Consider the base case of a tree of height two, including the root node. It is easy to verify that regardless of where N1 and N2 are placed within this tree (as children or with one of them being the root), get_lca will return the correct lowest common ancestor. Furthermore, get_lca has another property. If this tree only contains only one of N1 and N2, then get_lca will return the one that the tree contains.

So, let’s assume that both of these properties hold for trees of height h. Then, consider a tree of height h+1 with root node root. We have three cases. If the root node is one of N1 and N2, then we’ve found our answer. If N1 and N2 are on two different subtrees, we handle that that calling get_lca on the subtrees of height h which should return N1 and N2 (i.e. not nil) and we return the root, as desired. Finally, if N1 and N2 are in the same subtree, then only one of the get_lcas will return non-nil and that must be the correct lowest common ancestor since we have assumed this property for the subtrees of height h. That proves get_lca is correct!

The point of having an idea of the inductive proof is not so that you can regurgitate it when someone mentions the word “induction”. But, it should help solidify your understanding of how and why the algorithm works. Take the time to understand it to the point where the proof itself comes naturally. The key property we are utilizing is that get_lca actually returns the correct LCA if both N1 and N2 are present in the tree it is given but it also returns which of N1 and N2 is present if only one of them is.

Merge Sorted Lists

On to something a bit different:

Merge two sorted linked lists of integers.

Often, it’s a good idea to work with an example at first and then come with a general-case strategy. Let’s consider [4, 5, 9, 11] and [6, 7, 8, 12]. The goal is to design a method that takes these two linked lists (i.e. their head nodes) and returns the head node of a merged, sorted list. Let’s call the heads of the lists head1 and head2.4 with be the first element of our newly formed list since 4 < 6. So, we have to keep track of the head of the merged list – let’s call it res. Make res equal to head1 so that it contains the value of 4. Now what?

We still have a very similar looking problem: trying to merge the lists [5, 9, 11] and [7, 8, 12]. Since it’s the same problem with different inputs, we can use recursion! Just pass along head1.next and head2 along recursively! This should return a new list head which we will tack onto the end of res.

The algorithm that comes out of this example is actually pretty simple. Say we are given head1 and head2. If either of these are nil, we just return the other one since we have no merging to do if one of them is empty. If not, compare the values of the two heads. Call the smaller one small_head and the bigger one big_head. Then, recursively merge small_head.next and big_head and tack this onto the end of the resulting list. Let’s this play out in code:

def merge_sorted(head1, head2)
  if head1 == nil
    return head2
  elsif head2 == nil
    return head1
  end

  small_head = (head1.value < head2.value) ? head1 : head2
  big_head = (head1.value >= head2.value) ? head1 : head2
  res = small_head
  res.next_node = merge_sorted small_head.next_node, big_head
  return res
end

The code pretty much reflects the description (even the variable names!) so it’s pretty easy to understand. You should try to construct an inductive argument as to why this works. Notice that the inductive argument is simpler than the one we constructed for get_lca since there’s only one property of merge_sorted we care about: the fact that it correctly merges sorted linked lists. We can test the code:

stack1 = Stack.new
stack1.push 11
stack1.push 9
stack1.push 5
stack1.push 4

stack2 = Stack.new
stack2.push 12
stack2.push 8
stack2.push 7
stack2.push 6

puts stack1.head
=> [4, 5, 9, 11]
puts merge_sorted(stack1.head, stack2.head)
=> [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12]

Notice that we’re using the Stack class from the last article just to create the list. You’re welcome to construct it with a bunch of Node objects if you would like. Here’s an interesting question: what happens to the original lists? Let’s check:

puts merge_sorted(stack1.head, stack2.head)
puts stack1.head
=> [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12]

If you run this, you’ll see that the lists are not preserved. This is due to the fact that we are merging the lists in-place. You should discuss with your interviewer the advantages and drawbacks of in-place modification and proceed accordingly. To preserve the original list, all we would have to do is create a new res node rather than just have it equal small_node.

Binary Search Trees

Let’s take a look at an easier but reasonably popular problem:

Insert a node into a binary search tree while maintaining the properties of a binary search tree.

As you might recall, a binary search tree is a tree that satisfies the following property: each node has a value that is greater than or equal to all of its left descendants and smaller than or equal to all of its right descendants.

Since we can see “binary” and “tree” in the problem, we should probably think about doing this recursively. Given the node to insert (let’s call it N) and the root of the tree (call it R), check if N’s value is greater than the R’s value. If this is the case, then we know that N can be placed in the right subtree. If not, it can be placed in the left subtree. Let’s implement it:

def insert_in_bst(root, node)
  return node if root == nil
  if node.value > root.value
    if root.right == nil
      root.right = node
    else
      insert_in_bst root.right, node
    end
  else
    if root.left == nil
      root.left = node
    else
      insert_in_bst root.left, node
    end
  end
end

All we’re doing is traversing down the tree and as soon as we find a spot where our node can “fit” (i.e. it satisfies the binary search tree property by not being too big or too small), insert it. Try to think about whether or not this will always produce a balanced binary search tree. If not, how could we write an algorithm that does that?

Wrapping It Up

Hopefully this review of interview problems will help you score that next job using some Ruby. We’ll continue next time with a rather esoteric, but sometimes useful, data structure: the Bloom filter.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Ruby Interview Questions and Problem Walkthroughs

What are some common Ruby interview questions I should prepare for?

There are several common Ruby interview questions that you should be prepared for. These include questions about Ruby’s object-oriented programming features, such as classes, objects, and inheritance. You may also be asked about Ruby’s built-in methods, data types, and error handling. Additionally, you should be prepared to answer questions about Ruby on Rails, a popular web development framework that uses Ruby. This could include questions about MVC architecture, routing, and database migrations.

How can I implement a binary search tree in Ruby?

Implementing a binary search tree in Ruby involves creating a Node class and a Tree class. The Node class represents each node in the tree, and it has attributes for the data it holds and its left and right children. The Tree class represents the entire tree, and it has methods for inserting nodes, searching for data, and traversing the tree. You can find a detailed walkthrough of this process in our article.

What are some advanced Ruby topics I should know for interviews?

Advanced Ruby topics that you should know for interviews include metaprogramming, concurrency and multithreading, and garbage collection. Metaprogramming involves writing code that generates or modifies other code. Concurrency and multithreading involve running multiple threads of execution simultaneously. Garbage collection involves automatically freeing up memory that is no longer in use.

How can I improve my problem-solving skills in Ruby?

Improving your problem-solving skills in Ruby involves practice, understanding the language’s features, and learning from others. You can practice by solving coding challenges on platforms like LeetCode and HackerRank. Understanding Ruby’s features involves reading the documentation and experimenting with the language. Learning from others involves reading code written by experienced Ruby developers and asking for feedback on your own code.

What is the difference between Ruby and Ruby on Rails?

Ruby is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language, while Ruby on Rails is a web development framework that uses Ruby. Ruby on Rails provides a structure for building web applications, including tools for database interaction, routing, and view rendering. Ruby, on the other hand, is a general-purpose programming language that can be used for a variety of tasks, not just web development.

How can I handle errors in Ruby?

Ruby provides several mechanisms for handling errors, including the use of begin, rescue, and ensure keywords. You can use these keywords to define blocks of code that should be executed when an error occurs, and to ensure that certain code is executed regardless of whether an error occurs.

What are some best practices for writing Ruby code?

Some best practices for writing Ruby code include following the Ruby style guide, writing tests for your code, and using Ruby’s built-in methods and libraries whenever possible. The Ruby style guide provides recommendations for formatting and organizing your code. Writing tests helps ensure that your code works as expected. Using Ruby’s built-in methods and libraries can make your code more concise and efficient.

How can I optimize my Ruby code?

Optimizing your Ruby code involves identifying bottlenecks, using efficient algorithms and data structures, and taking advantage of Ruby’s features. You can identify bottlenecks by profiling your code, which involves measuring the time and memory usage of different parts of your code. You can use efficient algorithms and data structures to reduce the time and space complexity of your code. You can take advantage of Ruby’s features by using built-in methods and libraries that are optimized for performance.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when coding in Ruby?

Some common mistakes to avoid when coding in Ruby include not handling errors, using inefficient algorithms or data structures, and not following the Ruby style guide. Not handling errors can lead to unexpected behavior and crashes. Using inefficient algorithms or data structures can lead to slow performance. Not following the Ruby style guide can make your code harder to read and maintain.

How can I prepare for a Ruby coding interview?

Preparing for a Ruby coding interview involves studying common interview questions, practicing problem-solving in Ruby, and understanding the principles of object-oriented programming and web development. You should also be familiar with Ruby on Rails, as many companies use this framework for web development. Additionally, you should be comfortable with data structures, algorithms, and system design.

Dhaivat PandyaDhaivat Pandya
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I'm a developer, math enthusiast and student.

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