How do I approach Coding & Algorithms interview questions?

Coding & Algorithms questions require understanding of core concepts and practice. PracHub provides solutions with explanations to help you master coding & algorithms interviews.

What difficulty level is this interview question?

This is a medium difficulty Coding & Algorithms question, commonly asked during Technical Screen rounds at Goldman Sachs.

What role is this question designed for?

This question is commonly asked for Software Engineer candidates at Goldman Sachs during technical interviews.

Solve string and hashmap interview tasks | Goldman Sachs Interview Question

Q: Solve string and hashmap interview tasks

This question evaluates proficiency in string manipulation and hash-based aggregation, specifically skills such as frequency counting, map/dictionary usage, and numeric aggregation for averages.

Coding questions (solve both)

1) First non-repeating character

Given a string s, return the first character that appears exactly once in the string.

If no such character exists, return an empty value (e.g., "" ) or a special marker such as None / null .

Input: s (string)

Output: the first non-repeating character (or empty marker)

Constraints (typical):

1 <= len(s) <= 10^5
s may contain letters (assume ASCII unless stated otherwise)

2) Best average score

You are given a list of score records. Each record contains a name (string) and a score (integer).

Return the highest average score among all names.

A person may appear multiple times; their average is the mean of their scores.
You may assume each person has at least one score.
Specify how you handle rounding (e.g., return a floating-point number, or return an exact rational/decimal).

Input: records = [(name1, score1), (name2, score2), ...]

Output: the maximum average across names

Constraints (typical):

1 <= len(records) <= 10^5
score can be negative or positive (state assumption if you restrict it)

Coding questions (solve both)

1) First non-repeating character

Given a string s, return the first character that appears exactly once in the string.

If no such character exists, return an empty value (e.g., "" ) or a special marker such as None / null .

Input: s (string)

Output: the first non-repeating character (or empty marker)

Constraints (typical):

1 <= len(s) <= 10^5

s may contain letters (assume ASCII unless stated otherwise)

2) Best average score

You are given a list of score records. Each record contains a name (string) and a score (integer).

Return the highest average score among all names.

A person may appear multiple times; their average is the mean of their scores.

You may assume each person has at least one score.

Specify how you handle rounding (e.g., return a floating-point number, or return an exact rational/decimal).

Input: records = [(name1, score1), (name2, score2), ...]

Output: the maximum average across names

Constraints (typical):

1 <= len(records) <= 10^5

score can be negative or positive (state assumption if you restrict it)

Solve string and hashmap interview tasks

Quick Overview

Coding questions (solve both)

1) First non-repeating character

2) Best average score

Comments (0)

Solve string and hashmap interview tasks

Quick Overview

Coding questions (solve both)

1) First non-repeating character

2) Best average score

Comments (0)