Dynamic Programming on string

Last updated: November 6, 2025

Quick Overview

Given a string, implement a dynamic programming solution to find the length of the longest palindromic subsequence. Your function should take a single string as input and return an integer representing the length of the longest subsequence that is a palindrome.

Salesforce
Coding & Algorithms
Software Engineer
Salesforce
November 6, 2025
Software Engineer
Technical Screen
Coding & Algorithms
Medium

8

8

3,369 solved


Given a string, implement a dynamic programming solution to find the length of the longest palindromic subsequence. Your function should take a single string as input and return an integer representing the length of the longest subsequence that is a palindrome.

Coding interviews at Salesforce focus on problem-solving approach as much as the final solution. The interviewer wants to see you break down the problem, consider edge cases, and optimize iteratively. Communication throughout the process is key.

What the Interviewer Expects
  • Recognize the underlying problem pattern (sliding window, two pointers, BFS/DFS, etc.)
  • Discuss multiple approaches and trade-offs before coding
  • Implement an optimal solution with clean, production-quality code
  • Handle all edge cases including boundary conditions and invalid input
  • Optimize both time and space complexity with clear justification
  • Test your solution systematically with well-chosen examples
Key Topics to Cover
Dynamic programming and memoization
Sorting and searching
Data structure selection and trade-offs
Common algorithm patterns (sliding window, two pointers, BFS/DFS)
Graph algorithms and traversal
How to Approach This
  1. Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
  2. Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
  3. Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
  4. Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
  5. Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
  • Can you optimize the space complexity of your solution?
  • What happens if the input contains duplicates?
  • How would you parallelize this solution?
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Sample Answer
Problem Analysis

To solve the problem of finding the length of the longest palindromic subsequence, we can recognize that this is a dynamic programming problem. The specific pattern here is that we can break the probl...

Approach
  1. Define the DP Table: Create a 2D array dp where dp[i][j] will represent the length of the longest palindromic subsequence in the substring s[i:j+1].
  2. Base Case: Initialize `dp[i][i...

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