Count connected components in interval list
Last updated: October 1, 2025
Quick Overview
Count the number of connected components in the given interval list.
Shopify
October 1, 2025333
12
2,995 solved
Count the number of connected components in the given interval list.
This coding problem is frequently asked during Technical Screen at Shopify. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. Shopify expects candidates to write production-quality code, not just solve the puzzle.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Identify the correct data structure and algorithm for the problem
- Write clean, bug-free code with proper variable naming
- Analyze time and space complexity correctly
- Handle basic edge cases (empty input, single element)
- Communicate your thought process while coding
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
- Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
- Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
- Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
- Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
- What if the input doesn't fit in memory?
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
- Can you optimize the space complexity of your solution?
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Problem Analysis
To solve the problem of counting connected components in an interval list, we can utilize a graph-like approach. Each interval can be represented as a node, and an edge exists between two nodes if the...
Approach
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Sort the Intervals: Start by sorting the given list of intervals based on their start values. This allows us to efficiently determine overlaps as we can simply compare adjacent intervals.
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