Related Coding / DSA
Maximum Value in Every Sliding Window
Given an array and a window size k, return the maximum value within every contiguous window of size k as it slides from left to right across the array.
1. Problem Statement
You are given a 2x3 sliding tile board (6 cells, one of which is blank, represented as 0) in a start arrangement and a target arrangement. Each move slides a tile adjacent to the blank into the blank space. Return the minimum number of moves to reach the target arrangement from the start, or -1 if it cannot be reached.
2. Live Coding Format
Work in the provided coding workspace while explaining your decisions to the live interviewer. Validation may use inline tests, examples, comments, or a verbal walkthrough.
3. Key Focus Areas
- 1Problem clarification and contract
- 2Approach exploration and optimality
- 3Think-aloud communication and pacing
- 4Implementation correctness
- 5Code quality and language fluency
- 6Tests and dry run
- 7Debugging and self-correction
- 8Complexity analysis
- 9Follow-up performance
4. What Strong Candidates Should Demonstrate
- Clarify board encoding, move rules, and unreachable-case behavior before coding.
- Explain why a naive search can loop or miss the shortest answer, and improve it to an approach that always finds the fewest moves.
- Think aloud while implementing readable, correct code.
- Validate with explicit expected outputs and a top-to-bottom dry run.
- Analyze time and space complexity and handle a focused follow-up extension.
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