After finishing my internship at Facebook as a data engineer last summer, I am looking for a book that can help me to prepare for technical interviews involving Python because I want to find a full-time position as a data engineer or data scientist.
Starting last year, I started looking for books and websites from which I could study data structures and algorithms in Python. Unfortunately, the majority of solutions in popular interview preparation books and websites nowadays are written in C++ or Java, such as Cracking the Coding Interview, Leetcode, and GeeksforGeeks.
At the beginning of this year, I finally discovered this book Elements of Programming Interviews in Python. It is best interview preparation book I have encountered so far, for the following reasons:
1. It is written in Python 3.6, which is easier to understand for people who don’t have a computer science (CS) background.
2. It provides tips, popular libraries, and boot camp questions for each data structure and algorithm concept, which can be useful and provide a quick study guide right before your interview.
3. It has an entire section on domain-specific programs (design problems, language questions, object-oriented design, and common tools) to boost your fundamental knowledge in CS.
4. It also has a table that simulates different preparation scenarios (a 3-day hackathon, a 1-week finals cram, a 1-month term project, and a 4-monts algorithms class), and it recommends a subset of problems from different topics for each scenario, so you can plan your preparation accordingly.
5. It provides a detailed analysis for each problem, starting from brute force, to analyzing space and time complexities, to the final optimal solution, so you can practice your thinking process and use it during the real interview.
6. It has an online judge that is similar to Leetcode but with solutions written in Python, so you can practice and refer to the solutions in real-time!
To summarize, if you are like me and don’t have a background in CS, are short of time, and want to get a structured approach and practice your Python programing interview skills online, this is the book you should start with!
Good luck!
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Customers say
Customers find the book excellent for interview preparation, particularly for Facebook interviews, and appreciate its content and value for money. Moreover, the Python skills aspect receives positive feedback, with one customer noting it helps solidify problem-solving abilities. However, the readability and explanation quality receive mixed reviews, with several customers finding it hard to follow and lacking clarity. Additionally, customers disagree on the complexity of the problems and the writing style, with some appreciating the Python 3.6 implementation while others find the writing dense.
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45 customers mention interview preparation, 44 positive, 1 negative
An amazing book for coding interviews. I regard it as the single best book for coding interviews in the market....Read more
This is a great introduction to computer science fundamentals using python....Read more
Best book to prepare for programming interviews....Read more
I think the book is very useful. I've started using it....Read more
18 customers mention python skills, 15 positive, 3 negative
...It also provides nice tricks and shortcuts that can be used in Python to provide solution that is concise but also that has required space/time...Read more
There are a lot of positives in this book. The strategies, interview prep, and types of problems are all great....Read more
...Compact code Good solutions Cons: Font is too small. Good code doesn't mean smallest number of lines....Read more
This book is extremely useful for my preparation. I got an internship at a top company with this book as the main resource. Highly recommended.Read more
10 customers mention value for money, 8 positive, 2 negative
...quantity, and I think this book was certainly worth the price for me due to its quality and accessibility.Read more
...an organized set of good problems and decent solutions, this book is very valuable.Read more
A great book for its price and value delivered....Read more
Hard to read. It was a waste of money for me. Similar materials could be found on YouTube really.Read more
9 customers mention content, 9 positive, 0 negative
The book’s content is fine. I have a real problem with the formatting....Read more
The content of the book is great so far. The packaging was really bad, it was in a plastic cover....Read more
Book content is great, however, my book came with stains(some sort of sauce) which I had to clean with a wet tissue (with still a little residue)....Read more
The content is amazing, but the quality control from the printer leaves something to be desired....Read more
26 customers mention explanation quality, 15 positive, 11 negative
...They have a very large number of difficult problems, explain them clearly, and have clear, working code....Read more
...90%+ of this book was way too basic and for the rest it did not give any/enough detail in its "solutions" especially the design section.Read more
...Comparing to self learning through leetcode, learning through this book is definitely more systematic, where you can quickly acquire basic knowledge...Read more
...And sometimes, the presented solution is completely unintuitive or badly styled - like using global variables instead of passing parameters....Read more
13 customers mention complexity, 8 positive, 5 negative
Interesting problems, but can't help but think that the problem requirements and solutions are straight from languages like C rewritten in Python....Read more
This is an incredibly frustrating book....Read more
...Good set of problems What I dislike: -...Read more
...Great collection of problems and bootcamps at the beginning of every topic....Read more
13 customers mention writing quality, 7 positive, 6 negative
...1. It is written in Python 3.6, which is easier to understand for people who don’t have a computer science (CS) background. 2....Read more
...As others have mentioned, the writing is dense and requires multiple readings to tease out the authors’ intent....Read more
I just got the book today, after reading the first chapter the book is well written. However the pages are printed at an angle....Read more
...so far is the type of very white paper that is used and the typesetting of the book. It feels photocopied not printed and not pleasing to the eye.Read more
30 customers mention readability, 8 positive, 22 negative
Hard to read. It was a waste of money for me. Similar materials could be found on YouTube really.Read more
...(unreadable and massively long lines, impossible to debug or to maintain)...Read more
...The book is still readable but the paper cut and printed lines are not straight or professional....Read more
...badly scanned PDF of the book with poor formatting making the book difficult to read. I returned it for a refund.Read more
Horrible physical quality of the book
The content of the book is awesome. However, the physical quality of the book being delivered is horrible for a book lover like me I ordered this book (brand new version ) from MT Rainier Store as a Christmas present for my brother on 21 Dec 2017 and it arrived on 26 Dec 2017. Although it stated on the website as brand new, what I received seems to suggest otherwise. There were multiple fold mark on the front cover ( which shows that it has been probably been used before). Furthermore, the alignment of the pages in the book is of sub-par quality. Some pages were poking out and it looks like those pages are going to be detached in a matter of days. Also, when I check the book carefully, one of the pages got cut into half as well. Although it may seems like very small details but for a book lover and as a Christmas present , the physical quality of the book really upset me. Regarding the content of the book, it is still perfect as I expected tho. EDIT 1 : I have changed the review to 5 star since it is really unfair to give it 1 star solely based on the quality of the copy and not on the content of the book
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Top reviews from other countries
- CooperReviewed in Japan on April 13, 2019
Excellent, dense, great for stepping up to the next level.
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - AshminjaysonReviewed in India on September 6, 2024
Must have when preparing for coding interviews.
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- Andrew LuoReviewed in Canada on November 1, 2024
A must-read for clear thinking
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase -
victor m.Reviewed in Mexico on October 29, 2022
Un libro desafiante.
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
