Meta Variants for LC76 & LC317 (Minimum Substring Window & Shortest Distance from All Buildings)
Summary
I conducted a mock phone screen interview covering Meta variants of LeetCode Hard problems LC76 (Minimum Window Substring) and LC317 (Shortest Distance From All Buildings).
Full Experience
Hey y’all, Summer and I did another mock phone screen interview, this time going over two Leetcode Hards: LC76 Minimum Window Substring and LC317 Shortest Distance From All Buildings. IMO an interview format was the most efficient way to cover these two problems, both of which will be rephrased in your actual interview:
As you’ll see, LC76’s input will be the following:
Input: sentence = ['is', 'one', 'ok', 'you', 'the', 'frog', 'ok', 'one', 'the', 'you', 'is', 'not', 'frog'] words = ['is', 'you', 'frog']
Output: "you is not frog"
For LC317, it’ll be reworded where you’re trying to place the optimal well in a 2D matrix where a T represents a tree and an H represents a house.
Check it out (or not!):
Leetcode 76 & Leetcode 317 (Link)
As always, good luck on your interviews!!
Reference to all of the Meta Variants, Playlists & Unknowns: https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/6615244/meta-variant-compilation-by-codingwithmi-0pm7/
Please note the coderpad.io settings and tools utilized in the video is exactly what you should expect in a Meta interview.
And yes, being asked 2 Hard LC in a phone screen is unlikely but possible - another combo I see is LC987 and LC317. Or others with LC827, or LC282 (but rarely).
Interview Questions (2)
Minimum Window Substring - Words in Sentence
Given a sentence as an array of words and a target array of words, find the minimum window substring (contiguous words) in the sentence that contains all words from the target array, maintaining order of words in the sentence. Original LC76's input will be rephrased: Input:
sentence = ['is', 'one', 'ok', 'you', 'the', 'frog', 'ok', 'one', 'the', 'you', 'is', 'not', 'frog'] words = ['is', 'you', 'frog']
Output: "you is not frog"
Shortest Distance from All Buildings - Optimal Well Placement
Reworded problem where you're trying to place the optimal well in a 2D matrix. A 'T' represents a tree and an 'H' represents a house. Goal is to find a location to place a 'well' (implied, where the distance from all houses is minimized, avoiding trees), similar to Leetcode 317 Shortest Distance From All Buildings.
Preparation Tips
I referenced the Meta Variants, Playlists & Unknowns compilation: https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/6615244/meta-variant-compilation-by-codingwithmi-0pm7/. I also noted that the coderpad.io settings and tools utilized in the video are exactly what to expect in a Meta interview. I learned that being asked two Hard LeetCode problems in a phone screen is unlikely but possible, with other common combinations being LC987 and LC317, or LC827, or LC282.