The composition angle was the key thing here.
Start by clarifying requirements and scope, then design a class hierarchy that separates scoring rules from set management. Use the Strategy pattern to support both simplified and standard scoring formats, and expose clean methods for updating scores, retrieving the current set score, and determining the winner.
Pro tip: Emphasize extensibility and testability: design the system so new scoring formats can be added without modifying existing code, and discuss how you would unit test edge cases like deuce and tiebreaks.
Ask about the specific rules for simplified and standard formats, including number of games, tiebreak conditions, and whether the set winner is determined by games or points. Confirm the expected API surface and any constraints.
Identify the main objects: Set, Game, and a ScoringStrategy interface. The Set manages a collection of Games and delegates point scoring to the strategy, which encapsulates the rules for a single game.
Expose methods like `addPoint(player)`, `getCurrentSetScore()` returning a structured score (e.g., games per player, current game score), and `getSetWinner()` returning the winning player or null if not finished.
Create concrete strategies: SimplifiedScoring (e.g., first to 4 points, no deuce) and StandardScoring (e.g., 0,15,30,40, deuce, advantage). Each strategy handles point progression and determines when a game is won.
Define set-winning conditions (e.g., first to 6 games with 2-game lead, tiebreak at 6-6). Ensure the Set updates its state after each game and correctly reports the winner, including tiebreak scenarios.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.
Start by clarifying the game's state model and the distinction between per-game score and cross-game win counts. Then describe a state management design that isolates mutable per-game data from persistent set-level data, and explain how you would test and validate the reset and accumulation logic.
Pro tip: Emphasize idempotency and atomicity: ensure that resetting a game's score is idempotent and that updating win counts is atomic to avoid race conditions or double-counting, especially in concurrent or distributed environments.
Define what constitutes a 'game', a 'set', and how scores and win counts are represented. Identify all state variables and their lifecycles.
Propose a clear separation between per-game state (e.g., current score) and set-level state (e.g., win counts). Use distinct data structures or scopes to prevent accidental coupling.
Describe how to reset per-game state at game end (e.g., via a reset function or event) and how to increment win counts based on game outcome. Ensure the order of operations is correct.
Address scenarios like ties, abandoned games, or concurrent updates. Use locks, transactions, or idempotent operations to maintain consistency.
Outline unit and integration tests to verify that scores reset correctly and win counts accumulate as expected across multiple games and sets.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.