Valid parentheses
Return True if brackets in the string close in the correct order.
Binary search
Return the index of target in a sorted list, or -1 if not present.
Quicksort
Implement quicksort and return a sorted list.
BFS level-order traversal
Return the level-order traversal of a binary tree as a list of lists.
Coin change (DP)
Find the minimum number of coins to make exactly the target amount.
LRU cache decorator
Implement @lru_cache(maxsize=N) for unary functions using OrderedDict.
Graph DFS
Return all nodes reachable from a start node via DFS.
Longest increasing subsequence
Return the length of the longest strictly increasing subsequence.
Topological sort (Kahn)
Return a valid topological ordering of tasks, or [] if a cycle exists.
Word ladder length
Return the length of the shortest transformation from beginWord to endWord changing one letter at a time.
Index of peak element
Implement a function that returns the index of any peak element in a given integer array.
Count inversions lite
Implement a function that counts inversions in a list of numbers efficiently.
Count pairs with given difference
Count how many unordered pairs in a list have a given absolute difference using an efficient approach.
Find Peak Element
Implement a function that returns the index of any peak element in an integer array.
Previous Smaller Element
Find the nearest previous index with a smaller value for every element in an array.
Longest Consecutive Sequence
Given an unsorted list of integers, find the length of the longest consecutive elements sequence in O(n) time.
Median of Two Sorted Arrays
Given two sorted arrays, return the median of the combined sorted array in O(log(min(n,m))) time.
Pascal Triangle Row
Given a non-negative integer n, return the nth row of Pascal's triangle as a list of integers.
Employee Hierarchy
Build an employee hierarchy tree and compute the total number of direct and indirect reports for each employee.
Union Find Class
Implement a UnionFind class with find and union operations supporting path compression and union by size.
Bubble Sort
Implement bubble sort that sorts a list of numbers in ascending order.
Selection Sort Implementation
Implement selection sort to sort a list of numbers in ascending order.
Merge Sort
Implement merge_sort(numbers) that returns a sorted copy of the input list using the merge sort algorithm.
Heap Sort Implementation
Implement the heap sort algorithm to sort a list of comparable elements in non-decreasing order.
Radix Sort
Implement LSD radix sort to sort a list of non-negative integers in ascending order.
Bucket Sort
Implement bucket sort to sort a list of floating-point numbers in the range [0,1).
Shell Sort
Implement Shell sort, an in-place comparison sort that generalizes insertion sort, using a gap sequence that shrinks by half each pass.
Exponential Search
Implement exponential search to find any valid index of a target in a sorted list.
Decode Ways
Count the number of ways to decode a numeric string into letters using the mapping A=1 to Z=26.
Path Sum II All Paths
Return all root-to-leaf paths where the sum of node values equals a target.
Redundant Connection
Given a list of edges forming a tree plus one extra edge, return the edge that appears last in the input and creates a cycle.
Reconstruct Itinerary
Given a list of airline tickets, reconstruct the itinerary in order using each ticket exactly once, choosing the lexicographically smallest path when multiple options exist.
Shortest Path in Binary Matrix
Implement BFS to find the shortest path length from (0,0) to (n-1,n-1) in an n x n binary matrix, moving through 0 cells in 8 directions.
Showing 33 challenges · Data Structures & Algorithms
Data Structures & Algorithms — Python coding challenges
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This page lists data structures & algorithms challenges — real Python problems you solve in the browser IDE with instant test feedback. Each challenge includes a clear brief, starter code, and automated checks.
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Challenges test what you can build under constraints. For guided teaching, use our Python tutorials. For quick checks, try quizzes or copy snippets from code samples.