DATA STRUCTURES AND
ALGORITHMS INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is a data structure? - Correct Answers -A way of defining, storing, and retrieving
data in a structural and systematic way.
What is an algorithm? - Correct Answers -A step by step procedure, which defines a set
of instructions to be executed in a certain order to get a desired output.
Why do we do algorithm analysis? - Correct Answers -A problem can be solved in more
than one way. So, many solution algorithms can be derived for a given problem. We
must implement the most suitable algorithm.
How does breadth first traversal works? - Correct Answers -Traverse a graph in a
breadthwards motion and uses a queue to remember to get the next vertex to start a
search when a dead end occurs in any iteration.
What is a tree? - Correct Answers -A minimally connected graph having no loops and
circuits.
What is a binary tree? - Correct Answers -A special tree where each node can have
only two children at maximum.
What are the criteria of algorithm analysis? - Correct Answers -An algorithm is generally
analyzed by two factors -- *execution time* and *space required* by the algorithm.
What is asymptotic analysis of an algorithm? - Correct Answers -Refers to defining the
mathematical bounds/framing of an algorithms run-time performance.
What are the 3 primary asymptotic notations? - Correct Answers -*Best case* - Ω(n).
*Worst case* - Ο(n) notation.
*Average case* - Θ(n) notation.
What is a linear data structure? - Correct Answers -A data structure that contains
sequentially arranged data items. The next item can be located in the next memory
address.
Arrays and lists are examples of linear data structures
, What are common operations that can be performed on data structures? - Correct
Answers -*Insertion* - adding a data item.
*Deletion* - removing a data item.
*Traversal* - accessing and/or printing all data items.
*Searching* - finding a particular data item.
*Sorting* - arranging data items in a pre-defined sequence.
Briefly explain the approaches to developing algorithms? - Correct Answers -*Greedy
Approach* - finding solution by choosing next best option.
*Divide and Conquer* - dividing the problem to a minimum possible sub-problem and
solving them independently.
*Dynamic Programming* - dividing the problem into a minimum number of possible
problems and solving them in a combined manner.
What are some examples of greedy algorithms? - Correct Answers -Traveling Salesman
Prim's Minimal Spanning Tree Algorithm
Kruskal's Minimal Spanning Tree Algorithm
Dijkstra's Minimal Spanning tree Algorithm
Graph - Map Coloring
Graph - Vortex Cover
Knapsack Problem
Job Scheduling Problem
What are some examples of divide and conquer algorithms? - Correct Answers -Merge
sort
Quick sort
Binary search
Strassen's Matrix Multiplication
Closest pair (points)
What are some examples of dynamic programming algorithms? - Correct Answers -
Fibonacci number series
Knapsack problem
Tower of Hanoi
All pair shortest path by Floyd-Warshall
Shortest path by Dijkstra
Project scheduling
What is a linked-list? - Correct Answers -A linked-list is a list of data items connected
with links ( pointers).
What is a stack? - Correct Answers -An abstract data type used to store and retreive
values in the LIFO (Last In First Out) method.
ALGORITHMS INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is a data structure? - Correct Answers -A way of defining, storing, and retrieving
data in a structural and systematic way.
What is an algorithm? - Correct Answers -A step by step procedure, which defines a set
of instructions to be executed in a certain order to get a desired output.
Why do we do algorithm analysis? - Correct Answers -A problem can be solved in more
than one way. So, many solution algorithms can be derived for a given problem. We
must implement the most suitable algorithm.
How does breadth first traversal works? - Correct Answers -Traverse a graph in a
breadthwards motion and uses a queue to remember to get the next vertex to start a
search when a dead end occurs in any iteration.
What is a tree? - Correct Answers -A minimally connected graph having no loops and
circuits.
What is a binary tree? - Correct Answers -A special tree where each node can have
only two children at maximum.
What are the criteria of algorithm analysis? - Correct Answers -An algorithm is generally
analyzed by two factors -- *execution time* and *space required* by the algorithm.
What is asymptotic analysis of an algorithm? - Correct Answers -Refers to defining the
mathematical bounds/framing of an algorithms run-time performance.
What are the 3 primary asymptotic notations? - Correct Answers -*Best case* - Ω(n).
*Worst case* - Ο(n) notation.
*Average case* - Θ(n) notation.
What is a linear data structure? - Correct Answers -A data structure that contains
sequentially arranged data items. The next item can be located in the next memory
address.
Arrays and lists are examples of linear data structures
, What are common operations that can be performed on data structures? - Correct
Answers -*Insertion* - adding a data item.
*Deletion* - removing a data item.
*Traversal* - accessing and/or printing all data items.
*Searching* - finding a particular data item.
*Sorting* - arranging data items in a pre-defined sequence.
Briefly explain the approaches to developing algorithms? - Correct Answers -*Greedy
Approach* - finding solution by choosing next best option.
*Divide and Conquer* - dividing the problem to a minimum possible sub-problem and
solving them independently.
*Dynamic Programming* - dividing the problem into a minimum number of possible
problems and solving them in a combined manner.
What are some examples of greedy algorithms? - Correct Answers -Traveling Salesman
Prim's Minimal Spanning Tree Algorithm
Kruskal's Minimal Spanning Tree Algorithm
Dijkstra's Minimal Spanning tree Algorithm
Graph - Map Coloring
Graph - Vortex Cover
Knapsack Problem
Job Scheduling Problem
What are some examples of divide and conquer algorithms? - Correct Answers -Merge
sort
Quick sort
Binary search
Strassen's Matrix Multiplication
Closest pair (points)
What are some examples of dynamic programming algorithms? - Correct Answers -
Fibonacci number series
Knapsack problem
Tower of Hanoi
All pair shortest path by Floyd-Warshall
Shortest path by Dijkstra
Project scheduling
What is a linked-list? - Correct Answers -A linked-list is a list of data items connected
with links ( pointers).
What is a stack? - Correct Answers -An abstract data type used to store and retreive
values in the LIFO (Last In First Out) method.
