Best of Data Structures — March 2026

1. 1
   Video

   Tech With Tim·11w

   How to Pass Technical Interviews Without Grinding LeetCode

   Rather than grinding hundreds of random LeetCode problems, the key to passing technical interviews is mastering 15-20 core algorithmic patterns such as two pointers, sliding window, binary search variations, DFS/BFS, dynamic programming, and backtracking. Understanding these patterns lets you recognize and solve unseen problems instead of memorizing specific solutions. Equally important is practicing communication: talking through your thought process, asking clarifying questions, and doing mock interviews. A structured 6-8 week prep plan covering fundamentals, pattern-based problem solving, mock interviews, and reflection is presented as more effective than months of aimless grinding. AlgoExpert is promoted as the author's preferred structured platform for this approach.

   45

   1
2. 2
   Video

   Awesome·11w

   Software interviews are getting insane...

   A breakdown of Anthropic's software engineering interview process for an infrastructure role, covering all five rounds over three weeks. Round one includes implementing an LRU cache using a hashmap and doubly linked list, and a task management system using a DAG with topological sort and priority queue. Round two involves building a concurrent web crawler with BFS, rate limiting via semaphores, and cycle detection. The system design round focuses on designing an LLM inference API, covering GPU batching strategies, KV cache memory management, and streaming responses. The second coding round requires reconstructing function execution timelines from sampling profiler stack traces by diffing consecutive samples.

   38

   5
3. 3
   Video

   Indently·10w

   Coming in Python 3.15: New Set Syntax?

   PEP 8002 proposes a new display syntax for the empty set in Python, potentially using a slash inside curly braces (e.g., {/}) to mirror the mathematical empty set symbol. Currently, Python has no literal syntax for an empty set — using {} creates a dictionary instead. The PEP reviews several rejected alternatives including swapping curly braces for sets and using colons for dictionaries. Key concerns include backwards compatibility, as code relying on repr() or str() of an empty set would break. The author finds the change largely trivial and not worth the disruption, though acknowledges it could have made more sense if introduced earlier in Python's history.

   29

   2
4. 4
   Article

   freeCodeCamp·10w

   How to Get Started Coding in Golang

   A beginner's guide to Go (Golang) covering installation on WSL/Ubuntu and core language fundamentals. Topics include variable declaration and type inference, string formatting with the fmt package, arrays vs slices, for loops and the range keyword, functions with single and multiple return values, maps and their reference-type behavior, structs as an alternative to maps for mixed-type data, and package scope for organizing multi-file Go projects.

   13