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Intermediate

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Recursion for Coding Interviews in Java

The ultimate guide to recursion interviews with strategies developed by FAANG engineers. Practice with real-world interview questions, detailed explanations, and visualizations to prep faster.

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If you’ve got an interview coming up and want to brush up on your knowledge, or if you’ve ever struggled with solving coding problems using recursion, you'll find this course helpful. You’ll start with the basics of what recursion is and why it’s important before diving into what it looks like in practice. You’ll see how recursion can help you solve a variety of different math, string, and data structure problems by using interactive code playgrounds that you can execute directly in your browser. You’ll have access to detailed explanations and visualizations for each problem to help you along the way. By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to use what you’ve learned to solve complex real-world problems and even advance more easily through your interviews at top tech companies.

If you’ve got an interview coming up and want to brush up on your knowledge, or if you’ve ever struggled with solving coding pro...Show More

Content

51 Lessons6 Quizzes9 Challenges

Fundamentals of Recursion

7 Lessons

Learn how to use recursion in Java for efficient problem-solving with practical examples.

What is Recursion?

Recursion and Memory Visualization

Direct vs. Indirect Recursion

When to use Recursion

What to Expect

Understanding a Recursive Problem

Advantages and Disadvantages

Iteration to Recursion

6 Lessons

Solve challenges with transforming iterative code to recursive, comparing recursion vs. iteration.

Iteration

Recursion vs. Iteration

Changing Iterative Code to Recursive

Challenge 1: Length of a Linked List

Solution Review: Length of a Linked List

Quick Quiz on Iteration!

Recursion with Numbers

11 Lessons

Work your way through core recursion techniques on numbers: power, sum, modulo, Fibonacci, GCD, prime, and binary conversion.

The Exponent of a Number

Sum of Integers from 1 to n

Modulo using Recursion

Computing Fibonacci Sequence

Challenge 1: Find the Greatest Common Divisor

Solution Review: Find the Greatest Common Divisor

Challenge 2: Check for Prime Number

Solution Review: Check for Prime Number

Challenge 3: Convert Decimal Number to Binary Number

Solution Review: Convert Decimal Number to Binary Number

Quick Quiz on Recursion with Numbers!

Recursion with Strings

10 Lessons

Enhance your skills in solving string problems through recursive techniques and challenges.

Reversing a String

Removing Duplicates in a String

Merging Strings in Alphabetic Order

Challenge 1: Let's find the total number of vowels!

Solution Review: Let's find the total number of vowels!

Challenge 2: Print all Permutations of a String

Solution Review: Permutations of a String

Challenge 3: Is this String a Palindrome?

Solution Review: Is this String a Palindrome?

Quick Quiz on Recursion with Strings!

Recursion with Arrays

9 Lessons

Take a closer look at solving array problems using recursion in Java, including challenges.

Find the First Occurrence of a Number in an Array

Count the Number of Occurrences of a Number in an Array

Replacing each Negative Integer with a 0 in an Array

Invert the Position of Elements in an Array

Challenge 1: Find if the Array is a Palindrome

Solution Review: Find if the Array is a Palindrome

Challenge 2: Sort an Array

Solution Review: Sort an Array

Quick Quiz on Recursion with Arrays!

Recursion with Data Structures

8 Lessons

Follow recursion techniques to solve linked list problems, BST insertions, and graph traversals.

Print a Reversed Linked List

Sum Numbers in a Linked List

Challenge 1: Search for a Value in a Linked List

Solution Review: Search for a Value in a Linked List

Insert Values in a Binary Search Tree

Depth First Search in Graphs

Topological Sort in Graphs

Quick Quiz on Recursion with Data Structures!

Certificate of Completion

Showcase your accomplishment by sharing your certificate of completion.

Developed by MAANG Engineers

Every Educative lesson is designed by our in-house team of ex-MAANG software engineers and PhD computer science educators, and developed in consultation with developers and data scientists working at Meta, Google, and more. Our mission is to get you hands-on with the necessary skills to stay ahead in a constantly changing industry. No video, no fluff. Just interactive, project-based learning with personalized feedback that adapts to your goals and experience.

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Hands-on Learning Powered by AI

See how Educative uses AI to make your learning more immersive than ever before.

Personalized Interview Prep

Skip the LeetCode grind with a custom roadmap that adapts to your goals. Hands-on practice for Coding Interviews, System Design, and more.

Mock Interviews

Test your skills in a simulated interview setting. Receive personalized feedback based on your performance. Available for Coding Interviews, System Design, and more.

AI Prompt

Build prompt engineering skills. Practice implementing AI-informed solutions.

Code Feedback

Evaluate and debug your code with the click of a button. Get real-time feedback on test cases, including time and space complexity of your solutions.

Explain with AI

Select any text within any Educative course, and get an instant explanation — without ever leaving your browser.

AI Code Mentor

AI Code Mentor helps you quickly identify errors in your code, learn from your mistakes, and nudge you in the right direction — just like a 1:1 tutor!

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Free Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it a good choice to use recursion in Java interviews?

Recursion is often encouraged in Java interviews, but be mindful of performance and stack limitations, especially with deep recursion.

What are the advantages of recursion over iteration in Java?

Recursion simplifies code for certain problems, like tree traversals, but due to stack overhead, it may be less efficient than iteration for larger datasets.

What are the key recursion techniques I should know for Java interviews?

Focus on mastering basic recursion, tail recursion, and optimizations like memoization to handle complex problems efficiently.

What is a real-life example of recursion in programming?

Navigating directories in a file system is a real-life example of recursion. Each folder can contain files or subfolders, and traversing them mimics recursion.

How many types of recursion are there in Java?

In Java, recursion can be categorized into two types: direct recursion (where a method calls itself) and indirect recursion (where a method is called by another method in a recursive loop).