Find Last Call
Reported by candidates from Cisco's online assessment. Pattern, common pitfall, and the honest play if you blank under the timer.
You've got a Cisco OA in your inbox for August 2024 and the problem is 'Find Last Call'. No verbatim text yet, but the title alone tells you this is about tracking state across a sequence. You're looking at an array or log traversal where the final occurrence matters. This is a common Cisco pattern: simple on the surface, easy to over-engineer. If you blank during the live OA, StealthCoder will read the full problem and hand you the solution in seconds. Right now, you need the pattern.
Pattern and pitfall
The title 'Find Last Call' screams last occurrence or final valid state. You're probably iterating through a list of calls, timestamps, or function invocations and returning metadata about the last one that meets a condition. The trap is overthinking it with a hash table or complex state machine when a single pass with a variable holding the last match does it. Some candidates build a whole index and search it backward. Don't. Just track the answer as you go. If there's a tie-breaker (earliest index among equals, lexicographic order, etc.), the problem statement will say it. The core pattern is linear scan with state preservation. StealthCoder will show you the exact condition and return format so you don't waste time on off-by-one errors or wrong data type.
StealthCoder is the hedge for the one pattern you didn't drill. It runs invisibly during the screen share.
You can drill Find Last Call cold, or you can hedge it. StealthCoder runs invisibly during screen share and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. The proctor sees the IDE. They don't see what's behind it. If you're reading this with an OA window open, you're who this was built for.
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Find Last Call FAQ
What's the trick in 'Find Last Call'?+
Don't build a data structure. Iterate once, keep a variable for the last valid element (index, value, or metadata). Update it every time the condition matches. At the end, return what you stored. Cisco loves this simplicity test.
Is this a hash table problem?+
No. You might use a hash to check membership or count, but the core task is a single forward pass. If you're building a large index, you've misread the problem.
How do I handle ties or edge cases?+
The problem statement will specify. If multiple calls match, do you return the first occurrence or the last? Earliest index or latest? Read the exact spec. StealthCoder will highlight the tie-breaker.
Can I solve this in one pass?+
Yes, always. One loop, O(n) time, O(1) space. That's the solution Cisco expects. If you need two passes or a secondary search, reconsider.
What languages does Cisco allow?+
The OA accepts multiple languages. Write whatever you're fastest in. The algorithm is simple enough that syntax won't trip you up if you know the pattern.