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If the candidate starts by drawing 2 lines, then marking start and end on the lines, you know you would be off to having a good chat

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My thoughts exactly. Defining the problem space and all possible cases is the key that so many people miss. Once you do that, the solution is just Boolean logic.

To have a good chat I would hope they drew a coordinate system, mapped both appointments in Euclidian space, and then did an intersect between vector A (first appointment) and vector B (second appointment) to see if there are any data points in common.

What does this mean?

For a good discussion, instead of looking at the problem strictly programmatically, you could look at it as something you could map in vector space.

The dimensions of appointments are [startTime, endTime, location]. If you have points in one appointment that intersect with other appointments, then you have a collision.

This problem is solved with a couple of simple if statements. Finding a "solution" that is more complex than necessary or introduces knowledge that really isn't needed is the sign of a programmer who... over-engineers and is likely to be a detriment.

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