Parse a Nested-List String and Compute Its Weighted Sum
Last updated: August 6, 2026
Quick Overview
The candidate is asked to parse a nested-list string representation and compute its weighted sum based on the depth of the elements in the list.
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The candidate is asked to parse a nested-list string representation and compute its weighted sum based on the depth of the elements in the list.
This question is typically asked during the onsite interview round for software engineering roles at Google. It evaluates the candidate's ability to manipulate data structures, understand recursion or iteration, and implement an efficient solution. The interviewer is looking for clarity in thought process, coding skills, and the ability to handle edge cases effectively.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Clearly explain the approach to parsing the nested list.
- Demonstrate understanding of recursion or stack usage for depth tracking.
- Provide a correct and efficient algorithm with time and space complexity analysis.
- Handle edge cases such as empty lists or varying depths.
- Write clean, maintainable code with appropriate comments.
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
- How would you optimize your solution for very large inputs?
- Can you explain how your algorithm handles different data types?
- What would you change if the weights were not based on depth?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Approach
To solve the problem, I will use a recursive function that traverses the nested list. The function will keep track of the current depth and compute the weighted sum as it goes deeper into the structur...
Algorithm
Here is a Python implementation of the approach:
def weighted_sum(nested_list, depth=1):
total = 0
for element in nested_list:
if isinstance(element, list):
tota...
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