Mastering Grid Challenges: FrontEndEng Interview at Applied Intuition

Software Engineering
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applied-intuition | FrontEndEng | Interview Experience

Interview Date: Not specified
Result: Not specified
Difficulty: Not specified

Interview Process

The interview consisted of one technical round focusing on problem-solving and algorithm design. The candidate was presented with a grid problem involving obstacles and open spaces, requiring the selection of a base camp location for a group of scientists based on specific criteria.

Technical Questions

  1. Grid Problem: Given a grid composed of ‘#’ (obstacles) and ‘.’ (walkable spaces), and a list of coordinates representing the locations of scientists, determine the optimal base camp location.
    • Objectives:
      • Minimize total distance from all points (sum distance).
      • Minimize the maximum distance to the farthest point (Minimax).
      • Maximize distance from a specific danger point.
      • Calculate reachable paths from a specific point using different algorithms (DP, DFS, BFS).
    • Core Challenges:
      • The presence of obstacles complicates the use of Manhattan distance.
      • DFS does not guarantee the shortest path.
      • Dynamic Programming is infeasible due to grid obstacles.
    • Optimal Solution: Multi-source BFS to calculate the shortest paths from each scientist point to the grid.

Tips & Insights

  • BFS is the most reliable method for finding shortest paths in a grid with obstacles.
  • Understanding how to aggregate distance maps for different objectives is crucial for solving variations of the problem.