The concept clicked fast but the implementation had more edge cases than I gave it credit for.
Start by clarifying the problem constraints (e.g., API behavior, error handling, rate limits) and then outline a simple loop that follows the next URL until termination. Emphasize robustness with error handling, retries, and logging, and discuss trade-offs like recursion vs iteration and synchronous vs asynchronous calls.
Pro tip: Mention that you would add a maximum iteration limit or visited URL set to prevent infinite loops, and use exponential backoff for retries to handle transient failures gracefully.
Ask about API response format, error handling expectations, rate limits, and termination condition (e.g., no next URL or specific status).
Outline a loop that makes an HTTP request, extracts the next URL, and continues until the end condition is met. Consider recursion vs iteration.
Add error handling, retries with backoff, timeout, and logging. Include safeguards like max iterations or visited set to avoid infinite loops.
Compare synchronous vs asynchronous approaches, recursion vs iteration, and mention scalability considerations like concurrency and rate limiting.
Describe how you would test the solution: unit tests with mocked HTTP responses, edge cases (e.g., empty next URL, errors), and integration tests.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.