by using an N element max/min heap and evicting the max/min when a new element comes in that's less than the max/greater than the min (note this is also a leetcode problem https://leetcode.com/problems/k-closest-points-to-origin/)
nothing wrong with knowing the answer or where to look it up, I don't get what your point is
the purpose of the interview is to filter out people that do not know the answer or have pre-learned something and don't fully understand its applications. When you are in a dialog it is a very different dynamic,
people that would not ask a question because it is already posted on leetcode are the problem the OP complains about
the post was getting too long to put in all the details, but basically, what I was getting at, imagine the data comes in batches and you have to retain the N largest seen so far
The question is ambiguous and misleading or just simply nonsensical.
This sort of thing is sadly common in interviews, where the interviewer some arbitrary answer in mind and expects you to read his mind, which is possible only some of the time.
By definition you can't sort an infinite list. You've conveniently turned the question, in your mind, into something like "how do you efficiently maintain an ordered list of incoming items?"
It's honestly pretty ridiculous seeing your tone in the comments and how you think that highly about your bad interview questions and your flawed conceptions about the solutions, including CSV and TSV confusion. This smile makes it embarrassing even.
