Sliding Window on linked list
Last updated: December 29, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a singly linked list, implement a sliding window technique to find the maximum sum of any contiguous sublist of a specified length k. Your function should take the head of the linked list and the integer k as inputs and return the maximum sum as an integer. If k is greater than the length of the list, return -1.
Citadel
December 29, 202510
10
2,206 solved
Given a singly linked list, implement a sliding window technique to find the maximum sum of any contiguous sublist of a specified length k. Your function should take the head of the linked list and the integer k as inputs and return the maximum sum as an integer. If k is greater than the length of the list, return -1.
Coding interviews at Citadel 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
- Quickly identify the optimal approach and its theoretical basis
- Handle complex algorithm design with multiple interacting components
- Write concise, elegant code under time pressure
- Prove correctness of your approach and discuss alternative solutions
- Optimize beyond the obvious: discuss constant factor improvements
- Address follow-up variations and explain how the solution generalizes
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 if the input doesn't fit in memory?
- How would you parallelize this solution?
- How would your solution change if the input was sorted?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Problem Analysis
In this problem, we need to find the maximum sum of any contiguous sublist of length k from a singly linked list. The sliding window technique applies here because we want to evaluate sums of overla...
Approach
- Check the Length: First, traverse the linked list to determine its length. If the length is less than
k, return -1. - Initialize the Window: Calculate the sum of the first
kelements. ...
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