Java Programming Tips for interviews

Mani
Mani
Educating everyone with the beauty of programming!!
Java Programming Tips for interviews

Here are some of the most useful utilities in Java

If the queue has objects then using System.out.println(queue) will print hashcodes. So instead you can use:

1
2
3
4
for(Integer x : queue) { 
    System.out.print(x + ","); 
}
System.out.println();

Array Custom Sort using Lambda

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
//Sort based on First element in 2D array. 
int[][] intervals;
Arrays.sort(intervals, (a,b) -> a[0] - b[0]);
Arrays.sort(intervals, (a,b) -> {return (a[0] - b[0]);}); 

//Sort Based on Month Length. 
String[] months = {"January","February","March","April"};
Arrays.sort(months, (a, b) -> a.length() - b.length());
Arrays.sort(months, Comparator.comparingInt(String::length));
Arrays.sort(months, 
    (String a, String b) -> { 
        return Integer.signum(a.length() - b.length()) 
    }; 
);

Digit Parsing from string.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
public static void main(String[] args) {
        String s = "2";
        int a = s.charAt(0) - '0';
        System.out.println(a);
        //result = 2
        int b = s.charAt(0);
        System.out.println(b);
        //result = 50
    }

Integer Parsing from string.

1
You can use Integer.valueOf(s) 
1
2
3
4
5
int i = 20;
Integer.toBinaryString(i); //Prints in Binary 
Integer.toString(i, 2); //Prints in Base 2 i.e. Binary 
Integer.toString(i, n); //Prints in Base n

Java TreeMap.

floorKey() : The floorKey method is used to return a keymapping associated with the greatest key less than or equal to the given key, or null if there is no such key.
Map.Entry floorEntry(): The floorEntry(K key) method is used to return a key-value mapping associated with the greatest key less than or equal to the given key, or null if there is no such key. ceilingKey() : The ceilingKey function of TreeMap Class returns the least key greater than or equal to the given key or null if the such a key is absent.

Additional tips for programming

  1. In binary search, insert position of an element is nothing but the ‘start’ position (i.e. return start) in a iterative version of binary search. Using insert position problem, helps you solve many similar binary search problems.
  2. Java Long range can be from -10^18 to 10^18 (precisely: -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to +9,223,372,036,854,775,807)
  3. If the number of occurances of more than two characters is odd, you cannot form a palindrome with it.
  4. For palindromes, if the order doesn’t matter, may be go for a counting approach.
  5. In a matrix, current diagonal can be identified with int currDiagonal = row - col; int currAntiDiagonal = row + col;
  6. For the graph to be a valid tree, it must have exactly n - 1 edges. Any less, and it can’t possibly be fully connected. Any more, and it has to contain cycles. Additionally, if the graph is fully connected and contains exactly n - 1 edges, it can’t possibly contain a cycle, and therefore must be a tree!
  7. In some questions they ask for MOD (of 10^9 + 7) if the range is high. In that case you can define mod as int MOD = (1e9 + 7). The answer will be x % MOD.
  8. Time complexity of a recursive function is : O(Number of Branches ^ depth of each branch).