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Summary
I interviewed for a Principal Software Engineer role at Toast. The interview process included multiple coding rounds, a code review and REST controller design discussion, and behavioral rounds, with a significant coding challenge focused on implementing a getPrice method for a complex, nested menu structure.
Full Experience
Round 1: Peer coding round. The interviwer brought a sample code code and asked to implement a method in it. Round 2: Peer coding round. The intervier brought a sample code and asked to do code review and for a Rest Controller Round 3: Implement getPrice method
import static java.util.Arrays.asList;
import static java.util.Collections.emptyList;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.math.*;
import java.util.regex.*;
public class InheritedFields {
static class Menu {
public String name;
public List<MenuGroup> groups;
public Double price; // nullable
public Menu(String name, Double price, List<MenuGroup> groups) {
this.name = name;
this.price = price;
this.groups = groups;
}
}
static class MenuGroup {
public String name;
public List<MenuGroup> groups;
public List<MenuItem> items;
public Double price; // nullable
public MenuGroup(String name, Double price, List<MenuItem> items, List<MenuGroup> groups) {
this.name = name;
this.price = price;
this.items = items;
this.groups = groups;
}
}
static class MenuItem {
public String name;
public Double price; // nullable
public MenuItem(String name, Double price) {
this.name = name;
this.price = price;
}
}
public static Double getPrice(Collection<Menu> menus, MenuItem item) {
for(Menu objMenu: menus) {
for(MenuGroup objMenuGroup: objMenu.groups){
// List<MenuGroup> groups;
// List<MenuItem> items;
Double price1 = 0.0;
Double price2 = 0.0;
if(!objMenuGroup.groups.isEmpty()) {
price1 = parseMenuGroup(objMenuGroup.groups, objMenuGroup.price, item);
}
if(!objMenuGroup.items.isEmpty()) {
price2 = parseItems(objMenuGroup.items, objMenuGroup.price, item);
}
if(price1 == null && price2 == null) {
return 0.0;
} else if(price1 != null){
return price1;
} else {
return price2;
}
}
}
return null;
}
public static Double parseMenuGroup(List<MenuGroup> menugroups, Double price, MenuItem item) {
Double price1 = 0.0;
Double price2 = 0.0;
for (MenuGroup obj: menugroups) {
Double curr_price = obj.price==null ? price : obj.price;
if(!obj.groups.isEmpty()) {
price1 = parseMenuGroup(obj.groups, curr_price, item);
}
if(!obj.items.isEmpty()) {
price2 = parseItems(obj.items, curr_price, item);
}
}
if(price1 == null && price2 == null) {
return null;
} else if(price1 != null && price1 != 0.0){
return price1;
} else {
return price2;
}
}
public static Double parseItems(List<MenuItem> items, Double price, MenuItem item) {
for(MenuItem obj: items) {
if (obj.name == item.name) {
if(obj.price == null) {
return price;
} else {
return obj.price;
}
}
}
return null;
}
static final Menu LUNCH_MENU, DRINK_MENU;
public static void main(String args[] ) {
List<Menu> menuList = new ArrayList<>();
menuList.add(LUNCH_MENU);
menuList.add(DRINK_MENU);
MenuItem test = new MenuItem("Wings", null);
System.out.println(getPrice(menuList, test));
}
static {
// Initialize LUNCH_MENU + DRINK_MENU in a block so that it's collapsible in IDE
LUNCH_MENU = new Menu(
"Lunch",
11.50,
asList(
new MenuGroup(
"Appetizers",
5.00,
asList(new MenuItem("Wings", null), new MenuItem("Fries", 3.50)),
emptyList()
),
new MenuGroup(
"Entrees",
null,
asList(new MenuItem("Burger", null)),
asList(
new MenuGroup(
"Salads",
7.50,
asList(
new MenuItem("Garden Salad", null),
new MenuItem("Cobb Salad w/ Bacon", 9.00)),
emptyList()
),
new MenuGroup(
"Toast",
6.50,
asList(
new MenuItem("Avocado", null),
new MenuItem("PB&J", null)),
emptyList()
)
)
)
)
);
DRINK_MENU = new Menu(
"Drinks",
5.00,
asList(
new MenuGroup(
"Coffees",
null,
emptyList(),
asList(
new MenuGroup(
"Iced",
5.00,
asList(
new MenuItem("Iced Latte", 6.50),
new MenuItem("Decaf Iced Coffee", null)),
emptyList()
),
new MenuGroup(
"Hot",
3.00,
asList(
new MenuItem("Americano", null),
new MenuItem("Cup of Joe", null)
),
emptyList()
)
)
),
new MenuGroup(
"Sodas",
2.50,
asList(new MenuItem("Coke", null), new MenuItem("Sprite", null),
new MenuItem("Ginger Ale", null)),
emptyList()
)
)
);
}
}
Round 4: Behaviour round Round 5: Hiring Manager round
Interview Questions (1)
Q1
Implement getPrice for Nested Menu Structure with Price Inheritance
Data Structures & AlgorithmsMedium
Given a nested menu structure composed of Menu, MenuGroup, and MenuItem classes, implement the getPrice method. This method should take a collection of Menu objects and a MenuItem to search for. The problem requires traversing this hierarchical structure to determine the effective price of the given MenuItem.
Price Inheritance Logic:
- A
MenuItemmight have its ownprice(nullable). Ifnull, its price should be inherited from its direct parentMenuGroup. - A
MenuGroupmight have its ownprice(nullable). Ifnull, its price should be inherited from its direct parentMenu. - If a
MenuItemis found and its price isnull, and its parentMenuGroup's price is alsonull, then the price should be inherited from theMenuthat contains thatMenuGroup. - The method should return the determined
Doubleprice for theMenuItemornullif the item is not found or no price can be determined.
Class Definitions provided:
static class Menu {
public String name;
public List<MenuGroup> groups;
public Double price; // nullable
public Menu(String name, Double price, List<MenuGroup> groups) {
this.name = name;
this.price = price;
this.groups = groups;
}
}
static class MenuGroup {
public String name;
public List<MenuGroup> groups;
public List<MenuItem> items;
public Double price; // nullable
public MenuGroup(String name, Double price, List<MenuItem> items, List<MenuGroup> groups) {
this.name = name;
this.price = price;
this.items = items;
this.groups = groups;
}
}
static class MenuItem {
public String name;
public Double price; // nullable
public MenuItem(String name, Double price) {
this.name = name;
this.price = price;
}
}
public static Double getPrice(Collection<Menu> menus, MenuItem item) {
// Implementation required here
}
Example usage and data structures were provided for testing purposes within the original problem context.