Anthropic Coding & Algorithms Interview Questions
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Convert stack samples to trace events
Question Implement convertToTrace(samples) that, given a chronologically ordered vector of stack samples (each sample contains a timestamp and a call-...
Implement thread-safe blocking queue
Question Design and implement a thread-safe bounded blocking queue that supports concurrent enqueue and dequeue operations using standard synchronizat...
Solve programming task with follow-ups
Question Pure programming problem solving: implement the core algorithmic solution, then extend it to ( 1) support a constraint of consecutive N eleme...
Implement file deduplication at scale
Write a program to deduplicate files in a very large directory tree. Identify groups of identical files without loading entire files into memory. Outl...
Simulate stack traces from logs
Given a list of log entries describing function calls, each formatted as "<id> <event> <timestamp>" where event ∈ {START, END} and timestamps are inte...
Parse and Reconstruct Stack Trace
Given a multi-line stack trace string from a single thread (e.g., each frame is in the form 'at Module::Function(file:line)'), design and implement a ...
Apply bitwise tricks for performance
For an integer-heavy inner loop, propose bit-level optimizations that reduce branches and memory traffic: e.g., population count usage, fast modulo by...
Compute exclusive times and call stack from logs
Design an algorithm that, given a single-threaded program's execution log, computes per-function exclusive durations and reconstructs the active call ...
Design and implement a Python solution
Design and implement a solution in Python for a problem specified by the interviewer. Outline your approach and chosen data structures, justify key de...
Implement hostname-restricted web crawler
Implement a single-threaded web crawler that, given a starting URL startUrl and an interface getUrls(url) that returns all hyperlinks on the page at u...
Detect duplicate files efficiently
You are given access to a very large file system containing file paths and read access to file contents. Design an algorithm to identify groups of fil...
Compute exclusive times and call stack from logs
Design an algorithm that, given a single-threaded program's execution log, computes per-function exclusive durations and reconstructs the active call ...
Design high-throughput hashing for kernels
Design a high-throughput hash-based lookup to be called inside a tight kernel. Choose between open addressing and chaining, specify the load factor, p...
Convert stack samples to execution trace
You are given sampling-profiler output: a list of Sample objects ordered by timestamp ascending. Each Sample has (t: float, stack: list[str]) where st...
Implement a recency-eviction bounded cache
Implement an in-memory key–value store with a fixed capacity N that uses recency-based eviction. Support: get(key) -> value or -1 if missing, and put(...
Compute exclusive times and call stack from logs
Design an algorithm that, given a single-threaded program's execution log, computes per-function exclusive durations and reconstructs the active call ...
Design an in-memory banking service
Design an in-memory banking service supporting timestamped operations and edge-case semantics. Implement: ( 1) create_account(id, t): Create a new acc...
Compute exclusive times and call stack from logs
Design an algorithm that, given a single-threaded program's execution log, computes per-function exclusive durations and reconstructs the active call ...
Parse and Reconstruct Stack Trace
Given a multi-line stack trace string from a single thread (e.g., each frame is in the form 'at Module::Function(file:line)'), design and implement a ...
Implement file deduplication at scale
Implement a command-line tool to find duplicate files in a directory tree. Use OS/pathlib primitives to recursively enumerate files. Apply prefilters ...