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C Programming with DSA Interview Questions in Hyderabad

Q: Which companies hire C Programming with DSA professionals in Hyderabad?

Companies with large offices in Hyderabad include TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, Capgemini, Qualcomm, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD. Use their company pages below to practise employer-specific sets.

Q: Are C Programming with DSA interviews in Hyderabad different from other cities?

The questions depend more on the company than the city. Hyderabad's mix of employers decides the style: Many roles are with global capability centres that work with teams in the US and Europe

Q: How do I find C Programming with DSA jobs in Hyderabad?

Shortlist companies with Hyderabad offices, keep your CV focused on C Programming with DSA projects, apply on company career pages and job portals with the Hyderabad filter, and practise the questions on this page before each interview.

36 practice questions with answers for C Programming with DSA interviews in Hyderabad.

C Programming with DSA jobs in Hyderabad

Hyderabad has large engineering and capability centres of global technology, banking and pharma companies around HITEC City and the Financial District. Many roles are with global capability centres that work with teams in the US and Europe.

Below are 36 questions that match the mix of service, product and domain employers hiring c developers in Hyderabad.

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After calling realloc, the program sometimes crashes. What could be wrong?

Pointers and Memory ManagementMedium

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realloc may move the block and returns the new address, so old pointers to the block become invalid. Writing ptr = realloc(ptr, n) also leaks the original memory if realloc fails and returns NULL. Store the result in a temporary pointer, check for NULL, then assign. Make sure no other pointers still refer to the old location after a successful move.

What is structure padding and how can you reduce it?

Structures, Unions and File HandlingMedium

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The compiler inserts padding bytes between members so each one is aligned, which can make a struct larger than the sum of its members. struct { char a; int b; char c; } is usually 12 bytes instead of 6. Reduce padding by ordering members from largest to smallest alignment. Packing with __attribute__((packed)) removes padding but can slow access or fault on some CPUs.

What does the static keyword do in different contexts?

C Basics, Data Types and OperatorsEasy

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Inside a function, a static local variable keeps its value between calls and is initialised only once. At file level, a static global variable or function has internal linkage, so it is visible only in that source file, which helps hide implementation details. Static variables are stored in the data or BSS segment, not the stack, and default to zero.

What is the difference between a macro and an inline function?

C Basics, Data Types and OperatorsMedium

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A macro is plain text substitution by the preprocessor, with no type checking, and arguments may be evaluated more than once, so SQUARE(i++) misbehaves. An inline function is a real function with type checks and single evaluation of arguments, which the compiler may expand in place for speed. Prefer static inline functions and use macros only for things like conditional compilation.

What is a flexible array member?

Structures, Unions and File HandlingHard

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A flexible array member is a last struct member declared with empty brackets, such as struct Packet { size_t len; char data[]; };. You allocate the struct and its data in one malloc call: malloc(sizeof(struct Packet) + n). It keeps the header and payload together, improving cache use and needing only one free. It was standardised in C99.

You need the maximum of every sliding window of size k in an array. How would you solve it efficiently?

Stacks, Queues and HashingHard

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Use a deque storing indexes in decreasing order of value. For each element, remove indexes outside the window from the front, pop smaller values from the back, then push the current index. The front is always the maximum of the current window. Each index enters and leaves once, so the total time is O(n) instead of O(nk).

What is a deque and how can it be implemented in C?

Stacks, Queues and HashingEasy

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A deque, or double ended queue, supports insertion and removal at both the front and the rear in O(1). In C it is commonly implemented as a circular array with front and rear indexes that wrap using modulo, or as a doubly linked list. It is the core of the sliding window maximum algorithm and can act as both a stack and a queue.

What is the two-pointer technique and when is it used?

Arrays and StringsEasy

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Two pointers keep two indexes that move through an array according to a rule, often from both ends of a sorted array or at different speeds. It solves pair sum on sorted arrays, removing duplicates in place, reversing, merging sorted arrays and partitioning. It usually gives O(n) time and O(1) extra space instead of nested loops.

How do you keep improving your DSA skills while working full time?

Sorting, Searching and Dynamic ProgrammingEasy

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Situation: after joining a services company I had little time for practice. Task: stay ready for product company interviews. Action: I set a goal of five problems a week on weekday mornings, joined weekend contests and kept a notebook of patterns and mistakes, revising it monthly. Result: within a year I reached a solid contest rating and cleared interviews for a backend role.

A program crashes with a segmentation fault. How do you find the cause?

Pointers and Memory ManagementMedium

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Compile with -g and run under gdb; when it crashes, use bt to see the call stack and print variables in the failing frame. Common causes are dereferencing NULL, using freed memory, out-of-bounds array access and stack overflow from deep recursion. Building with -fsanitize=address gives a precise report of the bad access and where the memory was allocated or freed.

Write C code to count the number of set bits in an integer.

C Basics, Data Types and OperatorsMedium

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Brian Kernighan's trick clears the lowest set bit each step. int countBits(unsigned int n) { int count = 0; while (n) { n &= n - 1; count++; } return count; } It runs once per set bit. GCC and Clang also offer __builtin_popcount(n), which uses a CPU instruction when available.

Write a C function to count words in a sentence.

Arrays and StringsEasy

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Count transitions from space to non-space. #include <ctype.h> int countWords(const char *s) { int count = 0, inWord = 0; for (; *s; s++) { if (isspace((unsigned char)*s)) { inWord = 0; } else if (!inWord) { inWord = 1; count++; } } return count; } This handles multiple spaces, tabs and leading or trailing spaces correctly.

Write Kadane's algorithm in C.

Arrays and StringsMedium

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Track the best sum ending here and the overall best. long maxSubarray(const int *a, int n) { long cur = a[0], best = a[0]; for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) { cur = (cur + a[i] > a[i]) ? cur + a[i] : a[i]; if (cur > best) best = cur; } return best; } Input {-2, 1, -3, 4, -1, 2, 1, -5, 4} returns 6 for subarray 4, -1, 2, 1.

What is a trie and when is it better than a hash table?

Trees and GraphsMedium

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A trie is a tree where each edge represents a character, so words sharing a prefix share a path. Lookup and insert take O(L) for a word of length L, independent of how many words are stored. It beats a hash table for prefix queries such as autocomplete, spell checking and longest prefix matching in IP routing. The trade-off is higher memory use from many child pointers.

A UART receive buffer in firmware sometimes loses or duplicates bytes. How would you fix it?

Stacks, Queues and HashingHard

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The interrupt writes and the main loop reads the same ring buffer, so check for race conditions. Use a single-producer, single-consumer design where only the ISR updates head and only the main loop updates tail, declare the indexes volatile or use C11 atomics, and update the index after writing data. Detect overflow when the buffer is full and size the buffer for the maximum burst rate.

Tell me about a time you optimised an algorithm in a real project.

Sorting, Searching and Dynamic ProgrammingMedium

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Situation: a C tool comparing two inventory files of 5 lakh rows took 25 minutes. Task: make it run in a nightly window of 2 minutes. Action: I found nested loops doing O(n squared) matching, sorted both files with qsort and merged them with two pointers, which is O(n log n). Result: runtime fell to 40 seconds, and the approach became our standard for file reconciliation jobs.

What is the difference between fseek, ftell and rewind?

Structures, Unions and File HandlingMedium

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fseek(fp, offset, origin) moves the file position relative to SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR or SEEK_END. ftell(fp) returns the current position as a long. rewind(fp) moves to the start and clears error flags. Together they let you find file size, jump to a record in a fixed-size record file or re-read data. For very large files, use fseeko and ftello with off_t.

A doubly linked list delete function leaves the list broken when deleting the head. What is missing?

Linked ListsMedium

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When deleting the head there is no previous node, so the head pointer itself must move to head->next, and the new head's prev must be set to NULL. Similarly, deleting the tail needs the new tail's next set to NULL. The fix is to check node->prev and node->next for NULL and update head or tail pointers accordingly, or use a sentinel node to avoid these cases.

How would you detect if two linked lists intersect and find the intersection node?

Linked ListsMedium

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Two lists intersect if they share a node by address, not just value. Compute both lengths, advance the longer list by the difference, then move both together until the pointers are equal. A neat trick is to walk pointer a through list A then B, and pointer b through B then A; they meet at the intersection or both reach NULL. Both are O(m + n) time and O(1) space.

Insert a node at the end of a singly linked list using a double pointer.

Linked ListsMedium

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A pointer to pointer handles the empty list without special cases. int append(Node **head, int value) { Node *n = malloc(sizeof *n); if (!n) return -1; n->data = value; n->next = NULL; while (*head) head = &(*head)->next; *head = n; return 0; } Call it as append(&head, 5). Keep a tail pointer if you append often.

You need to update one record in the middle of a large binary file without rewriting it all. How?

Structures, Unions and File HandlingMedium

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Use fixed-size records so each one starts at index times record size. Open the file in r+b mode, fseek to that offset, fwrite the new record and fflush. Read it back to verify if needed. For crash safety, write to a temporary file and rename, or keep a simple journal. Databases like SQLite solve this robustly if requirements grow.

What is a circular linked list and where is it used?

Linked ListsEasy

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In a circular linked list the last node points back to the first, so there is no NULL end. You can start at any node and visit all nodes, and keeping only a tail pointer gives O(1) access to both ends. It is used in round-robin CPU scheduling, multiplayer turn order and circular buffers. Traversal loops must stop when they return to the starting node.

What is memory alignment and why does it matter?

Pointers and Memory ManagementHard

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Alignment means placing data at addresses that are multiples of its size or required boundary, such as 4 for int. CPUs read aligned data faster, and some architectures fault on misaligned access. Compilers add padding in structs to align members. You can check alignment with _Alignof and request it with _Alignas or aligned_alloc in C11.

What is a queue and what are its variants?

Stacks, Queues and HashingEasy

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A queue is first in, first out with enqueue at the rear and dequeue at the front, both O(1). Variants are the circular queue, which reuses array space; the deque, which allows insertion and removal at both ends; and the priority queue, which removes the highest priority element first. Queues are used in BFS, task scheduling, print spooling and buffering data between producers and consumers.

How do you handle a situation where requirements change late in a project?

Structures, Unions and File HandlingMedium

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Situation: two weeks before release, the client asked to add a new field to our device's binary log format. Task: add it without breaking older files. Action: I explained the risk, added a version byte to the header, wrote a reader that handled both versions and tested with old and new samples. Result: we shipped on time and older devices kept working without a firmware update.

An interview asks you to find the missing number from 1 to n in an array of n-1 numbers. What approaches work?

Arrays and StringsEasy

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Sum approach: expected sum n(n+1)/2 minus the actual sum gives the missing number, using a long type to avoid overflow. XOR approach: XOR all numbers from 1 to n and all array elements; pairs cancel and the missing number remains, with no overflow risk. Both are O(n) time and O(1) space, and XOR is the safer choice for very large n.

What is backtracking? Give an example.

Sorting, Searching and Dynamic ProgrammingMedium

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Backtracking builds a solution step by step and abandons a path as soon as it cannot lead to a valid answer, then tries the next option. It explores a search tree with pruning. Examples are N-Queens, Sudoku, generating permutations and subsets, and maze path finding. Time can be exponential, so good pruning and ordering choices matter a lot.

Find the length of the longest substring without repeating characters in C.

Arrays and StringsMedium

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Sliding window with last seen positions. int longestUnique(const char *s) { int last[256]; for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) last[i] = -1; int best = 0, start = 0; for (int i = 0; s[i]; i++) { unsigned char c = s[i]; if (last[c] >= start) start = last[c] + 1; last[c] = i; if (i - start + 1 > best) best = i - start + 1; } return best; } For abcabcbb it returns 3.

Describe a time you failed in an interview or test and what you learned.

Linked ListsEasy

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Situation: in my first product company interview I froze on a linked list reversal. Task: improve before the next opportunity. Action: I practised pointer problems daily, always drawing boxes and arrows before coding, and did mock interviews with friends where I spoke my thinking aloud. Result: two months later I solved a harder linked list problem calmly and got the offer.

What does sizeof return for a pointer and for an array?

Pointers and Memory ManagementEasy

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sizeof on a pointer returns the size of the pointer itself, typically 8 bytes on a 64-bit system, regardless of what it points to. sizeof on an array declared in the same scope returns the total bytes of all elements, so sizeof arr / sizeof arr[0] gives the element count. Inside a function receiving an array parameter, sizeof returns pointer size, so pass the length separately.

How are graphs represented in C?

Trees and GraphsMedium

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An adjacency matrix is a V by V array where cell [u][v] marks an edge; it gives O(1) edge checks but uses O(V squared) memory, suiting dense graphs. An adjacency list stores for each vertex a list or dynamic array of neighbours, using O(V + E) memory, which suits sparse real world graphs like road or social networks. Weighted graphs store the weight with each edge.

Reverse a singly linked list iteratively in C.

Linked ListsMedium

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Flip each next pointer while walking the list. typedef struct Node { int data; struct Node *next; } Node; Node *reverse(Node *head) { Node *prev = NULL, *cur = head; while (cur) { Node *next = cur->next; cur->next = prev; prev = cur; cur = next; } return prev; } Time O(n), space O(1). The returned prev is the new head.

What is a monotonic stack?

Stacks, Queues and HashingMedium

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A monotonic stack keeps elements in increasing or decreasing order by popping elements that break the order before pushing a new one. Each element is pushed and popped at most once, so problems run in O(n). It solves next greater element, daily temperatures, stock span and largest rectangle in a histogram, which would otherwise need nested loops.

What is a linked list and how is it different from an array?

Linked ListsEasy

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A linked list is a chain of nodes where each node holds data and a pointer to the next node, allocated separately on the heap. Unlike an array, it grows easily and inserts or deletes in O(1) once you have the position, but it has O(n) access by index, extra memory per node for pointers and poor cache locality. Arrays win for random access and iteration speed.

What is a heap and how does it implement a priority queue?

Stacks, Queues and HashingMedium

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A binary heap is a complete binary tree stored in an array where every parent is smaller than its children for a min heap, or larger for a max heap. For index i, children are at 2i + 1 and 2i + 2. Insert adds at the end and sifts up, and extracting the top swaps it with the last element and sifts down, both O(log n). Building a heap from an array takes O(n).

Rotate an array to the right by k positions in O(n) time and O(1) space.

Arrays and StringsMedium

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Use three reversals. void rev(int *a, int l, int r) { while (l < r) { int t = a[l]; a[l++] = a[r]; a[r--] = t; } } void rotate(int *a, int n, int k) { k %= n; if (k == 0) return; rev(a, 0, n - 1); rev(a, 0, k - 1); rev(a, k, n - 1); } For 1 2 3 4 5 with k = 2 the result is 4 5 1 2 3.