Algorithms & data structures
Classic patterns — search, sort, stacks, queues, and practical complexity-aware code.
Find First Duplicate Index in Python
Return the index of the first element that appears more than once in a list, using a dictionary for O(n) time.
def find_first_duplicate(arr):
seen = {}
for index, value in enumerate(arr):
if value in seen:
return index
seen[value] = index
return -1
if __name__ == "__main__":
test_array = [3, 5, 2, 8, 5, 1, 2]
result = find_first_duplicate(test_array)
print(f"Array: {test_arr…
Find Longest Consecutive Run in an Unsorted List in Python
Find the length of the longest sequence of consecutive integers in an unsorted list using a set and a linear scan.
def longest_run(nums):
if not nums:
return 0
num_set = set(nums)
longest = 0
for num in num_set:
# Only start counting from the smallest number in a sequence
if num - 1 not in num_set:
current = num
length = 1
while current + 1 in num_set:
…
Find the Last Index Where a Condition Is True in Python
This code scans a sequence from the end and returns the index of the last element that satisfies a given condition, or -1 if none do.
def last_index_where(sequence, condition):
"""Return the index of the last element in sequence that satisfies condition."""
for i in range(len(sequence) - 1, -1, -1):
if condition(sequence[i]):
return i
return -1
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [1, 4, 7, 2, 9, 5, 8, 3]
is_…
How to Detect Hardcoded Secrets in Python Source Code
A Python utility that scans source code for common hardcoded secrets like API keys, passwords, tokens, and AWS credentials using regex patterns.
import re
def detect_secrets(text):
"""Detect potential hardcoded secrets in source code."""
patterns = {
'api_key': r'(?i)(api[_-]?key|apikey)\s*[=:]\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']',
'password': r'(?i)(password|passwd)\s*[=:]\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']',
'token': r'(?i)(\b(token|secret)\b)\s*[=:]\s…
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