Microsoft Corporation Java Developer Interview Questions and Answers

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Find All Anagrams Problem Statement
Given a string STR and a non-empty string PTR, identify all the starting indices of anagrams of PTR within STR.
Explanation:
An anagram of a string is another string ...read more
Ans. 
Given a string STR and a non-empty string PTR, find all starting indices of anagrams of PTR within STR.
• Create a frequency map of characters in PTR.

• Use sliding window technique to check anagrams in STR.

• Return the starting indices of anagrams found.
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Q2. 
Subset Sum Problem Statement
Given an array of integers, find the sum of all subsets in non-decreasing order of the given array.
Example:
Input:
N = 3, array = [1, 2]
Output:
[0, 1, 2, 3]
Explanatio...read more
Ans. 
Find sum of all subsets in non-decreasing order of given array.
• Use recursion to generate all subsets of the array

• Calculate sum of each subset and store in a list

• Sort the list in non-decreasing order to get the final result
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

First he asked me to tell about myself, then he asked me some OOPS Concepts,difference in shallow copy and deep copy,
asked me to write a code for boundary traversal of binary tree.

Q1. 
Boundary Traversal of Binary Tree Problem Statement
Given a binary tree consisting of integers, your task is to provide the boundary nodes of this tree in an anti-clockwise direction, starting with the ro...read more
Ans. 
Boundary traversal of a binary tree to find left boundary, right boundary, and leaf nodes in an anti-clockwise direction.
• Perform a pre-order traversal to get the left boundary nodes

• Perform an in-order traversal to get the leaf nodes

• Perform a post-order traversal to get the right boundary nodes

• Combine the results to get the boundary nodes in anti-clockwise direction
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

The second tech interview lasted for about an hour and half. First he asked me to tell about myself. Then he asked me how my first interview was. He then asked me where should I start, data structures, databases, to which I replied anywhere.
He started asking questions about C. He asked difference between call by pointer and call by reference. Whether a function can be defined as
void function(int &x, int &y);
Then he asked what is volatile data type in C. Then about the static data class.
He also asked me to write a program to find length of a string.
Then he asked about how functions in C work. How does the program know where to go back after a function is over, etc.
He then asked me if I knew C++, I said no. So he continued to ask a few questions on data structures.
He then asked about the ACID properties which a good database must have. He asked how are transactions managed by a database, what are commits, how, in case of a power failure, data is reverted back, etc.
Then he asked me whether I like to work individually or in a team. I said in a team. He then gave me scenario where I have to decide between a project I am working on, whose deadline is approaching, and helping a friend working on another project whose deadline is also approaching, and asked me what would I do in such a case.

Q1. 
Find the Middle of a Linked List
This problem requires you to return a pointer that references the middle node of a singly linked list.
Explanation:
If the number of elements in the linked list is odd, ...read more
Ans. 
Return the middle node of a singly linked list, considering odd and even number of elements.
• Traverse the linked list with two pointers, one moving twice as fast as the other

• When the fast pointer reaches the end, the slow pointer will be at the middle

• Return the node pointed to by the slow pointer as the middle node
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Numerical and logical aptitude test

There are 5 rounds on datastructure and algorithm

Round duration - 120 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

The test included MCQ questions from SQL, Linux Commands, C/C++ programming, Logical Reasoning, Aptitude questions. The other section was the coding round, where 2 SQL queries and 2 coding questions were there.

Q1. 
Subarray with Equal Occurrences Problem Statement
You are provided with an array/list ARR of length N containing only 0s and 1s. Your goal is to determine the number of non-empty subarrays where the numbe...read more
Ans. 
Count the number of subarrays where the number of 0s is equal to the number of 1s in a given array of 0s and 1s.
• Iterate through the array and keep track of the count of 0s and 1s encountered so far.

• Use a hashmap to store the count of 0s and 1s encountered at each index.

• For each index, check if the count of 0s is equal to the count of 1s encountered so far and update the result accordingly.
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Q2. 
Pythagorean Triplets Detection
Determine if an array contains a Pythagorean triplet by checking whether there are three integers x, y, and z such that x² + y² = z² within the array.
Input:
The first lin...read more
Ans. 
Detect if an array contains a Pythagorean triplet by checking if there are three integers x, y, and z such that x^2 + y^2 = z^2.
• Iterate through all possible triplets of numbers in the array and check if they form a Pythagorean triplet.

• Use a nested loop to generate all possible combinations of three numbers from the array.

• Check if the sum of squares of two numbers is equal to the square of the third number for each trip...read more
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Round duration - 50 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This was a standard DSA round where I was asked to solve 2 questions and also code it in a production ready manner . At the end I was also asked some questions related to Linux and SQL . I was tested on some basic commands of Linux .

Q1. 
Palindromic Substrings Problem Statement
Given a string S, your task is to return all distinct palindromic substrings of the given string in alphabetical order.
Explanation:
A string is considered a pal...read more
Ans. 
Return all distinct palindromic substrings of a given string in alphabetical order.
• Iterate through all possible substrings of the given string.

• Check if each substring is a palindrome.

• Store distinct palindromic substrings in alphabetical order.
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Q2. 
Swap Two Numbers Problem Statement
Given two integers a and b, your task is to swap these numbers and output the swapped values.
Input:
The first line contains a single integer 't', representing the num...read more
Ans. 
Swap two integers 'a' and 'b' and output the swapped values.
• Create a temporary variable to store one of the integers before swapping.

• Swap the values of 'a' and 'b' using the temporary variable.

• Output the swapped values of 'a' and 'b'.
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Q3. What is meant by normalization and denormalization?
Ans. 
Normalization is the process of organizing data in a database to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity, while denormalization is the process of intentionally adding redundancy to improve query performance.
• Normalization involves breaking down a table into smaller tables and defining relationships between them to reduce redundancy and dependency.

• Denormalization involves combining tables or adding redundant data to...read more
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This was a DS/Algo + Core round where I was asked questions related to DBMS , SQL queries and Linux Commands . The first question was of DSA and I was able to code it preety fast . I was also asked to execute some SQL queries on my laptop.
Overall , this round went good according to my opinion.

Q1. 
Anagram Pairs Verification Problem
Your task is to determine if two given strings are anagrams of each other. Two strings are considered anagrams if you can rearrange the letters of one string to form the...read more
Ans. 
Check if two strings are anagrams of each other by comparing their sorted characters.
• Sort the characters of both strings and compare them.

• Use a dictionary to count the frequency of characters in each string and compare the dictionaries.

• Ensure both strings have the same length before proceeding with comparison.

• Handle edge cases like empty strings or strings with different lengths.
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Q2. How would you delete duplicate emails from a database using SQL?
Ans. 
Use SQL query with GROUP BY and HAVING clause to delete duplicate emails from a database.
• Use GROUP BY clause to group emails together

• Use HAVING clause to filter out groups with more than one email

• Use DELETE statement to remove duplicate emails
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Q3. What is the difference between the DELETE and TRUNCATE commands in a DBMS?
Ans. 
DELETE removes specific rows from a table, while TRUNCATE removes all rows and resets auto-increment values.
• DELETE is a DML command, while TRUNCATE is a DDL command.

• DELETE can be rolled back, while TRUNCATE cannot be rolled back.

• DELETE triggers ON DELETE triggers, while TRUNCATE does not trigger any triggers.

• DELETE is slower as it maintains logs, while TRUNCATE is faster as it does not maintain logs.

• Example: DELETE FRO...read more
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Round duration - 30 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a typical HR round with some standard Behavioral questions .

Q1. What is something about you that is not included in your resume?
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Q2. Why do you want to work at Amdocs?
Ans. 
I admire Amdocs for its innovation in technology and commitment to customer success, aligning with my career aspirations in software development.
• Amdocs is a leader in the telecommunications industry, providing cutting-edge solutions that drive digital transformation.

• The company's focus on innovation resonates with my passion for developing software that enhances user experiences.

• Amdocs' commitment to professional growt...read more
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Round duration - 90 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Longest Increasing Subsequence Problem Statement
Given 'N' students standing in a row with specific heights, your task is to find the length of the longest strictly increasing subsequence of their heights...read more
Ans. 
Find the length of the longest strictly increasing subsequence of heights of students in a row.
• Iterate through the heights array and for each element, find the length of the longest increasing subsequence ending at that element.

• Use dynamic programming to keep track of the longest increasing subsequence length for each element.

• Return the maximum length found as the result.
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Q2. 
Overlapping Intervals Problem Statement
You are given the start and end times of 'N' intervals. Write a function to determine if any two intervals overlap.
Note:
If an interval ends at time T and anothe...read more
Ans. 
Given start and end times of intervals, determine if any two intervals overlap.
• Iterate through intervals and check if any two intervals overlap by comparing their start and end times

• Sort intervals based on start times for efficient comparison

• Consider edge cases where intervals end and start at the same time
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Q3. What SQL queries were asked during your interview?
Ans. 
Various SQL queries related to data manipulation and retrieval were asked during the interview.
• Basic SELECT queries to retrieve data from a single table

• JOIN queries to retrieve data from multiple tables based on a common column

• Aggregate functions like COUNT, SUM, AVG, etc. to perform calculations on data

• Subqueries to retrieve data based on the result of another query

• UPDATE queries to modify existing data in a table

• DELE...read more
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Zig-Zag String Problem Statement
Given a string STR of size N and an integer M representing the number of rows in the zig-zag pattern, return the string formed by concatenating all rows when the string ST...read more
Ans. 
Arrange a string in zig-zag pattern with given number of rows and concatenate the rows.
• Iterate through the string and distribute characters to rows based on zig-zag pattern

• Concatenate the characters in each row to get the final result

• Handle edge cases like when number of rows is 1 or equal to the length of the string
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Q2. 
Next Permutation Problem Statement
You are given a permutation of 'N' integers. A sequence of 'N' integers is considered a permutation if it includes all integers from 1 to 'N' exactly once. Your task is ...read more
Ans. 
The task is to rearrange a given permutation of 'N' integers to form the lexicographically next greater permutation.
• Iterate from right to left to find the first element that is smaller than the element to its right.

• Swap this element with the smallest element to its right that is greater than it.

• Reverse the elements to the right of the swapped element to get the lexicographically next greater permutation.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Remove Consecutive Duplicates Problem Statement
Given a string S, your task is to recursively remove all consecutive duplicate characters from the string.
Input:
String S
Output:
Output string
Constr...read more
Ans. 
Recursively remove consecutive duplicate characters from a string.
• Use recursion to check if the current character is the same as the next character, if so skip the next character

• Base case: if the string is empty or has only one character, return the string

• Example: Input: 'aaabcc', Output: 'abc'
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Q2. 
Print Permutations - String Problem Statement
Given an input string 'S', you are tasked with finding and returning all possible permutations of the input string.
Input:
The first and only line of input ...read more
Ans. 
Return all possible permutations of a given input string.
• Use recursion to generate all possible permutations of the input string.

• Swap characters at different positions to generate permutations.

• Handle duplicate characters in the input string by using a set to store unique permutations.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. Design an e-commerce website similar to Flipkart or Amazon.
Ans. 
Design an e-commerce website similar to Flipkart or Amazon.
• Implement user-friendly interface for easy navigation

• Include search functionality with filters for products

• Incorporate secure payment gateway for transactions

• Provide personalized recommendations based on user behavior

• Include customer reviews and ratings for products

• Implement order tracking and delivery status updates

• Offer various payment options like credit/deb...read more
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