Key-Value Pair Program | Dataford Interview Questions

Beyondsoft International (Singapore) Pte. may receive repeated metric updates as key-value pairs. Given these pairs, combine values belonging to the same key and return the k keys with the largest totals.

Formal Specification

Implement top_k_pairs(pairs, k). The input pairs is a list of two-element lists, where each pair contains a string key and an integer value. For every distinct key, calculate the sum of all its values. Return at most k two-element lists in the form [key, total].

Sort results by descending total. If two keys have equal totals, preserve the order in which their keys first appeared in pairs. Assume 1 <= k and that k may be larger than the number of distinct keys.

Constraints

1 <= len(pairs) <= 10^5
Each pair contains exactly one string key and one integer value.
1 <= len(key) <= 100
-10^9 <= value <= 10^9
1 <= k
Keys are case-sensitive.

Function Signature

def top_k_pairs(pairs, k):

Your question is Key-Value Pair Program. 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

Formal Specification

Constraints

1 <= len(pairs) <= 10^5
Each pair contains exactly one string key and one integer value.
1 <= len(key) <= 100
-10^9 <= value <= 10^9
1 <= k
Keys are case-sensitive.

Function Signature

def top_k_pairs(pairs, k):

Your question is Key-Value Pair Program. 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.