intervals

The interval pattern shows up everywhere in FDE loops: calendars, flight segments, log windows. Master the sort-then-sweep idiom here and three other interview questions fall out for free.

The follow-up interviewers reach for when merge-intervals goes too smoothly. The three-phase scan is elegant, but only if you've internalized the overlap condition most candidates have to re-derive under pressure.

The Palantir coding-screen classic. It looks like merge-intervals but needs a different weapon, the sweep line, and the boundary-tie detail decides whether your answer is right or off by a planeload.

The signature coding problem at a legal-AI company, and it is interval merging wearing a product costume. The candidates who struggle are the ones who start matching before deciding what a match even is.