Book4

COMPUTER SCIENCE INTERVIEW PREPARATION SERIES MONOGRAPH 04 / 06 BOOK 4 · ACADEMIC & TECHNICAL RECRUITMENT CSE Lecturer Interview Problem Solving and Whiteboard Manual Live Whiteboard Execution for C Programming, Data Structures, SQL, Networking, Digital Logic, Automata, and OS CORE SUBJECT ARCHITECTURE 01 Whiteboard Execution Protocol Nine-step board pipeline: constraint specification, invariant narration, trace tables, and recovery. 02 C Programming & Memory Traces Pointer aliasing, struct padding, bitwise manipulation, recursion frames, and defect diagnosis. 03 Data Structures & Algorithmic Dry-Runs Arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, dynamic program- ming tables, and complexity proofs. 04 Database Queries & Schema Design Complex SQL joins, window functions, normalization repairs, transaction schedules, and indexing. 05 Systems & Networking Calculations Subnetting tables, pipeline timing, cache hit-ratio traces, page tables, and CPU scheduling Gantts. 06 Digital Logic & Automata Construction Karnaugh map minimization, synchronous counters, DFA/NFA construction, and pumping lemma proofs. VOLUME SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY This monograph trains live problem-solving and whiteboard execut

Contents How to Use This Book ii I The Method 1 1 The Board Protocol 2 1.1 Why the protocol exists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Step-by-step, with the exact words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 The Drawing Kit 4 2.1 Template 1: the annotated array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Template 2: the C memory map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3 Template 3: boxes and arrows for pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.4 Template 4: the call-stack ladder for recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.5 Template 5: linked structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.6 Template 6: trees, and the array view of a heap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.7 Template 7: graphs with their adjacency representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.8 Template 8: grids: K-map, DFA table, Gantt chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 II C Programming on the Board 7 3 Loops, Numbers and Patterns 8 4 Recursion and the Call Stack 14 5 Pointers and the Memory Model 20 6 Dynamic Memory 26 7 Output Tracing a

Contents Book 4: Problem Solving & Board Book 12 Graphs 54 13 Dynamic Programming and Greedy Choices 58 IV Systems and Theory on the Board 62 14 Database Design, SQL and PL/SQL 63 15 Subnetting and Networking 69 16 Digital Logic and K-Maps 72 17 Automata: DFA, NFA and Minimisation 76 18 Operating Systems: Scheduling, Memory, Architecture 79 V Timed Interview Challenges 84 19 Against the Clock 85 20 The Mock Board 92 20.1 How a real 60-minute panel is usually built . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 20.2 Three mock papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 20.3 The scoring sheet: photocopy this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 20.4 The teaching demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 20.5 Recovery scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 20.6 A thirty-day training plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 VI Appendices 95 A Complexity Cheat Sheet 96 B C Language Trap List 97 C Database Reference Card 98 D Subnetting Reference Card 99 E Digital Logic and Automata Reference Card 100 F Operating Sy