Card Games, Trees and Stacks

A card-game simulation turns up in Affirm's coding rounds again and again, on phone screens and onsites alike. You usually write it as a class and then run it. Once the basic game works, a follow-up changes the rules and the code has to bend with it.

The other problems here are smaller class builds, some over trees and one over a stack.

Under the stories they're plain structures: queues, trees and linked lists. Once you name the structure, the rest is careful bookkeeping.

The Affirm angle

Agree on the rules before you write the class. These prompts come as a few loose sentences. They won't say how a tie breaks or what happens right at the edge of a rule. Ask, then put each answer into the code as a named constant or a short comment. Pass any randomness in from outside so a test can pin it, and run the smallest version on a fixed input before you add anything.

AffirmPremium lesson · Coding round

The 5 Affirm problems are below.

1. 1A Premium questionCoding · Medium · Signature problem
2. 2A Premium questionCoding · Medium · Frequently asked
3. 3A Premium questionCoding · Medium · Frequently asked

+ 2 more in this lesson

Each with hints, the follow-up and a tested solution.

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