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# Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide

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desertcart.com: Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide: 9781479274833: Adnan Aziz, Tsung-Hsien Lee, Amit Prakash: Books

Review: Great book to keep around even not for interviews - I bought this book recently to prepare for an interview at one of the top tech companies. I have a PhD in CS and have been working in the industry for over 5 years. I did not get an offer, but hear me out why I would still give this book 5 stars. I have a few other technical interview prep books. The other decent one is Cracking the Code Interviews. Don't waste your time on the rest. In comparison, Cracking the Code Interview has easier problems and less coverage. As of this writing (July 2015) I would rank this book #1 among them all. There are a few reasons why this book stands out. Breadth This book is organized into chapters each focusing on a specific area of algorithms and data structures. It has great coverage on practically all areas which may be asked in an interview. Each chapter starts with some review materials, while short, they are to the point and often contains tips and key insights for that particular area. I recommend reading them thoroughly even if you are already familiar to the material. Depth What I like is the depth of the problems. When I first pick up this book, I could only solve two to three problems in a day. But as time goes by and with practice, the pace gets faster. The problems are challenging, especially ones in the dynamic programming and later chapters. While the problems are challenging, the actual implementations are generally not long, usually with 20-30 lines of code. Each of the questions are accompanied with clear explanations and complete source code, often with multiple solutions. The pros and cons of each solution is discussed. Other Features Each problem is often given with a short paragraph of explanation that provides a context relevant to the question and with each question, the page number of the solution is also listed. I especially like the tips feature of this book. It's clear that the authors really thought about the actual interview situation. It's close to what an actual interview is like, when the interviewee is stuck, the interviewer usually provides a tip. I recommend the readers to take advantage of this feature before looking for the solutions. For a book of this kind of breadth and depth, it has surprisingly few errors. The book companion web site is also active with questions and answers. I posted some questions and one of the author Tsung-Hsien Lee replied to my questions very quickly. Each person's interview preparation is different because everyone has their strength and weaknesses. This book was part of my preparation, but looking back I probably didn't put enough weight into practice the problems in this book. That's why I would not blame the book for my failed interview. While I succeeded in defining the algorithm, I failed at finishing the code in time, clearly due to lack of coding practice. Indeed, if one prepared an interview with this book and solve the problems to their full extend (from algorithm to coding and to analysis), it's hard to imagine not to succeed in any technical interview of reasonable length (i.e. 1 hour per interviewer). In fact, comparing the actual interview questions I faced, they are surprisingly easy compared to those in the book. The key to use this book properly is practice solving the problems with writing actual code. Even now after my interviews, I feel this book is still very valuable to keep around. Often we don't solve enough variety of problems in our actual day to day work. It's good practice to solve some of the problems in the book once in a while to refresh the mind. While many interview problems have little practical use, they do exercise our mind in an unconventional way and allow us to see problems from different angles. For my next interview, I'm confident that I'll be much better prepared because of this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's truly interested in computer science.
Review: Exhaustive coverage - Updated review My old review was based on version 1.1 of this book. I am writing an updated review based on version 1.4 and keeping the old review for historical purposes. What I liked in version 1.4 over version 1.1: * 1.4 is better organized with Table Of Contents listing all the questions. * Interview preparation strategies is moved to the front of the book. * There is a section for hints. This is useful as it gives an incentive to think more before looking at the answer. * Java source code for solutions available online for those who prefer Java over C++. (The code is organized and can be found at book's site) * Array and Strings are broken down into 2 chapters and adds to better organization. What this book provides: This book provides an exhaustive question bank covering different types of question which could be potentially asked in an interview. This is what differentiates this book from other programming interview books. More questions we practice, more better we get at recognizing patterns in problems and in selecting the optimal data structure and algorithmic approach. Interview tips and strategies provided in this book are also very useful. A game plan is given with which all problems to practice for certain scenarios starting from 3 day hackathon to 4 month term project. In my personal opinion, 4 month term project would be the best use of this book especially when it's been a while since you interviewed and are problem solving skills are a bit rusty. So start preparing early :) Also there are some difficult problems called 'Ninja problems' which wouldn't be usually asked in interviews as it'd take more time to solve but would be a good practice for online programming challenges. I've seen some companies especially startups taking that route to screen candidates. What this book does not provide: This book does not aim to give step by step explanation for solutions. Some other programming interview books like the classic Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job provides more detailed explanations for the solutions. But that is not the problem this book tries to solve in the first place. I am not saying not providing detailed explanations for solution is a con but just saying that this book does not intend to do that nor does it intend to be substitute for an algorithms textbook. if you are really rusty, read the PIE book first and this come to this and you'll find this book more valuable. Diving straight into this book when being rusty would be a bit overwhelming. Cons: Though this book was largely useful, I did find one thing a little annoying. Reading the solutions sometimes made me wonder if they were trying to play code golf while writing the solutions. I don't remember the exact question numbers but for many questions I felt brevity took precedence to clarity. Doing many stuff in a single line of code by chaining statements is 'cool' but a bit frustrating when we are trying to understand a solution in a time crunch. I would have given this book 4.5/5 for this but I'm giving this book 5/5 since desertcart does not allow fractional rating. And maybe I'll add in the 0.5 for the authors who were took the feedback from my previous review seriously and were responsive to my communications. :) Bottom line: Most exhaustive question collection. Great strategies and game plan section. Very useful interview prep book. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Old review This book should be named Elements of "C++ 11" Interviews. The questions are great(+1 star) but the solutions are specific to C++ 11. Any book which claims to be about algorithms should try to be multi-lingual or language agnostic so as to cater to a larger audience. C++ is not my first language and that doesn't mean I don't know to program. The authors seem to make an assumption that C++ == programming. I found Java source code in the author's Github but that was unorganized. Would have been better if the code was organized chapter wise. I will have to search through the whole dump of source code for what I want. As others have commented, unnecessarily the book is math heavy at times. Seems to be aimed at new grads from MIT or Stanford and not for the common programmer(Oh well, if they are from MIT why do they need this book anyways). -4 stars for this. The chapters on 'Getting Ready' and 'Strategies for a Great Interview' are useful. +1 star for this. In total 3 starts. Keep away from this book unless you are a C++ 11 expert.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #129,568 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #8 in Discrete Mathematics (Books) #29 in C++ Programming Language #263 in Computer Software (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (998) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 1.21 x 9 inches |
| Edition  | 2nd |
| ISBN-10  | 1479274836 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1479274833 |
| Item Weight  | 1.65 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 534 pages |
| Publication date  | October 11, 2012 |
| Publisher  | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |

## Images

![Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/614aGDMoalL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book to keep around even not for interviews
*by L***S on July 14, 2015*

I bought this book recently to prepare for an interview at one of the top tech companies. I have a PhD in CS and have been working in the industry for over 5 years. I did not get an offer, but hear me out why I would still give this book 5 stars. I have a few other technical interview prep books. The other decent one is Cracking the Code Interviews. Don't waste your time on the rest. In comparison, Cracking the Code Interview has easier problems and less coverage. As of this writing (July 2015) I would rank this book #1 among them all. There are a few reasons why this book stands out. Breadth This book is organized into chapters each focusing on a specific area of algorithms and data structures. It has great coverage on practically all areas which may be asked in an interview. Each chapter starts with some review materials, while short, they are to the point and often contains tips and key insights for that particular area. I recommend reading them thoroughly even if you are already familiar to the material. Depth What I like is the depth of the problems. When I first pick up this book, I could only solve two to three problems in a day. But as time goes by and with practice, the pace gets faster. The problems are challenging, especially ones in the dynamic programming and later chapters. While the problems are challenging, the actual implementations are generally not long, usually with 20-30 lines of code. Each of the questions are accompanied with clear explanations and complete source code, often with multiple solutions. The pros and cons of each solution is discussed. Other Features Each problem is often given with a short paragraph of explanation that provides a context relevant to the question and with each question, the page number of the solution is also listed. I especially like the tips feature of this book. It's clear that the authors really thought about the actual interview situation. It's close to what an actual interview is like, when the interviewee is stuck, the interviewer usually provides a tip. I recommend the readers to take advantage of this feature before looking for the solutions. For a book of this kind of breadth and depth, it has surprisingly few errors. The book companion web site is also active with questions and answers. I posted some questions and one of the author Tsung-Hsien Lee replied to my questions very quickly. Each person's interview preparation is different because everyone has their strength and weaknesses. This book was part of my preparation, but looking back I probably didn't put enough weight into practice the problems in this book. That's why I would not blame the book for my failed interview. While I succeeded in defining the algorithm, I failed at finishing the code in time, clearly due to lack of coding practice. Indeed, if one prepared an interview with this book and solve the problems to their full extend (from algorithm to coding and to analysis), it's hard to imagine not to succeed in any technical interview of reasonable length (i.e. 1 hour per interviewer). In fact, comparing the actual interview questions I faced, they are surprisingly easy compared to those in the book. The key to use this book properly is practice solving the problems with writing actual code. Even now after my interviews, I feel this book is still very valuable to keep around. Often we don't solve enough variety of problems in our actual day to day work. It's good practice to solve some of the problems in the book once in a while to refresh the mind. While many interview problems have little practical use, they do exercise our mind in an unconventional way and allow us to see problems from different angles. For my next interview, I'm confident that I'll be much better prepared because of this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's truly interested in computer science.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exhaustive coverage
*by R***K on May 10, 2014*

Updated review My old review was based on version 1.1 of this book. I am writing an updated review based on version 1.4 and keeping the old review for historical purposes. What I liked in version 1.4 over version 1.1: * 1.4 is better organized with Table Of Contents listing all the questions. * Interview preparation strategies is moved to the front of the book. * There is a section for hints. This is useful as it gives an incentive to think more before looking at the answer. * Java source code for solutions available online for those who prefer Java over C++. (The code is organized and can be found at book's site) * Array and Strings are broken down into 2 chapters and adds to better organization. What this book provides: This book provides an exhaustive question bank covering different types of question which could be potentially asked in an interview. This is what differentiates this book from other programming interview books. More questions we practice, more better we get at recognizing patterns in problems and in selecting the optimal data structure and algorithmic approach. Interview tips and strategies provided in this book are also very useful. A game plan is given with which all problems to practice for certain scenarios starting from 3 day hackathon to 4 month term project. In my personal opinion, 4 month term project would be the best use of this book especially when it's been a while since you interviewed and are problem solving skills are a bit rusty. So start preparing early :) Also there are some difficult problems called 'Ninja problems' which wouldn't be usually asked in interviews as it'd take more time to solve but would be a good practice for online programming challenges. I've seen some companies especially startups taking that route to screen candidates. What this book does not provide: This book does not aim to give step by step explanation for solutions. Some other programming interview books like the classic Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job provides more detailed explanations for the solutions. But that is not the problem this book tries to solve in the first place. I am not saying not providing detailed explanations for solution is a con but just saying that this book does not intend to do that nor does it intend to be substitute for an algorithms textbook. if you are really rusty, read the PIE book first and this come to this and you'll find this book more valuable. Diving straight into this book when being rusty would be a bit overwhelming. Cons: Though this book was largely useful, I did find one thing a little annoying. Reading the solutions sometimes made me wonder if they were trying to play code golf while writing the solutions. I don't remember the exact question numbers but for many questions I felt brevity took precedence to clarity. Doing many stuff in a single line of code by chaining statements is 'cool' but a bit frustrating when we are trying to understand a solution in a time crunch. I would have given this book 4.5/5 for this but I'm giving this book 5/5 since Amazon does not allow fractional rating. And maybe I'll add in the 0.5 for the authors who were took the feedback from my previous review seriously and were responsive to my communications. :) Bottom line: Most exhaustive question collection. Great strategies and game plan section. Very useful interview prep book. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Old review This book should be named Elements of "C++ 11" Interviews. The questions are great(+1 star) but the solutions are specific to C++ 11. Any book which claims to be about algorithms should try to be multi-lingual or language agnostic so as to cater to a larger audience. C++ is not my first language and that doesn't mean I don't know to program. The authors seem to make an assumption that C++ == programming. I found Java source code in the author's Github but that was unorganized. Would have been better if the code was organized chapter wise. I will have to search through the whole dump of source code for what I want. As others have commented, unnecessarily the book is math heavy at times. Seems to be aimed at new grads from MIT or Stanford and not for the common programmer(Oh well, if they are from MIT why do they need this book anyways). -4 stars for this. The chapters on 'Getting Ready' and 'Strategies for a Great Interview' are useful. +1 star for this. In total 3 starts. Keep away from this book unless you are a C++ 11 expert.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by B***O on July 7, 2022*

This book is what got me into Microsoft. A must have for software engineers looking to join a Big Tech company. I surely can also help you join smaller companies as well, and sharpen your basic algorithmic skills!

## Frequently Bought Together

- Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide
- Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions (Cracking the Interview & Career)
- Elements of Programming Interviews in Python: The Insiders' Guide

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