Engineering Manager, Play Web Store and Platform

Google

Given a string s, find the longest palindromic substring in s. Assume that the maximum length of s is 1000. For example: If s is babad, one possible answer is bab. aba is also a valid answer. If s is cbbd, the answer is bb. If s is a, the answer is a. If s is ac, the answer is a. Your solution should be efficient and handle various test cases, including empty strings and strings with a single character. A palindromic substring is a substring that reads the same forwards and backward. The goal is to identify the longest such substring within the given input string s. Consider edge cases and optimize for performance, keeping in mind that the input string's length will not exceed 1000 characters.

Google

Let's design a cache. Consider the following requirements: Basic Functionality: Implement a cache with put(key, value) and get(key) methods. Eviction Policy: Implement an LRU (Least Recently Used) eviction policy. When the cache is full, the least recently accessed item should be evicted to make space for the new item. Thread Safety: Ensure the cache is thread-safe to handle concurrent access from multiple threads. Generics: The cache should be able to store any type of key and value (using generics). Time Complexity: get and put operations should have an average time complexity of O(1). Example Usage: Cache cache = new Cache(5); // Cache with capacity 5 cache.put(1, one); cache.put(2, two); cache.get(1); // Access key 1, moves it to the most recently used cache.put(3, three); cache.put(4, four); cache.put(5, five); cache.put(6, six); // This will evict key 2 (LRU) System.out.println(cache.get(2)); // Output: null (because it was evicted) Discuss the data structures you would use, the implementation details for each method, and how you would address thread safety.

Google

Describe a time you faced a tough technical problem. What made it so difficult, and how did you approach solving it? What resources did you consult, and what was the final outcome? What did you learn from this experience, and how has it shaped your problem-solving skills since then? For example, perhaps you were tasked with optimizing a slow-running query in a large database. The initial attempts to improve performance, such as adding indexes, didn't yield the desired results. You then had to dive deep into the query execution plan, identify bottlenecks, and rewrite the query using more efficient techniques, like leveraging window functions or temporary tables. You could also describe the challenges faced while integrating a new feature into a legacy system with poorly documented code. You might have had to reverse engineer parts of the system, deal with unexpected dependencies, and carefully test the integration to avoid breaking existing functionality. Elaborate on the specific tools and methodologies you employed during these challenges, such as debuggers, profilers, or version control systems. Also, explain how you collaborated with team members or sought assistance from external resources like online forums or documentation to overcome the obstacles.