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Evaluate dependent variable expressions

InstacartSoftware Engineer · Onsite
MediumSoftware EngineerOnsiteCoding & Algorithms

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This question evaluates a candidate's ability to parse and evaluate assignment expressions, resolve inter-variable dependencies, and detect cycles or unsolvable references.

Question

Given a target variable name and a list of assignment strings of the form 'Ti = expression' where the expression is either a number, a single variable, or arithmetic (+, −) over variables/numbers, compute the numeric value of the target variable. Extend to handle expressions that reference other variables recursively; detect cycles or unsolvable references and report an error.