Deduplicate Vulnerability Reports | Dataford Interview Questions

Implement a function to deduplicate a list of incoming vulnerability reports efficiently.

Each report is a dictionary containing a unique fingerprint string and other fields. Treat reports with the same fingerprint as duplicates, retain the first occurrence, and preserve input order. Return a new list without modifying the input.

Function signature: def deduplicate_reports(reports):

Input is a list of dictionaries. Output is a list of dictionaries.

Constraints

0 <= len(reports) <= 500
Each report is a dictionary containing a string key named fingerprint.
Fingerprints are hashable strings.
The input list must not be modified.
When duplicates exist, retain the first occurrence.

Function Signature

def deduplicate_reports(reports):

Your question is Deduplicate Vulnerability Reports. Start with the requirements in the Question tab.

Run and submit as often as you like. When you're ready, talk me through your approach or go straight to the code.

Problem