Python Algorithm Implementation | Dataford Interview Questions

Motion Recruitment Partners stores candidate assessment scores in nondecreasing order. Implement a function that returns the index of the first occurrence of a target score using binary search. Return -1 when the target does not appear.

If the target occurs multiple times, return the smallest valid index. The input list must not be modified.

Formal Specification

Input: scores, a sorted list of integers, and target, an integer.
Output: An integer containing the first index where scores[index] == target, or -1 if no such index exists.

Constraints

0 <= len(scores) <= 10^5
-10^9 <= scores[i], target <= 10^9
scores is sorted in nondecreasing order
Duplicate scores are allowed

Function Signature

def find_first_score(scores, target):

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