Greedy Greedy

What this C++ code-reading question tests

This is a medium-difficulty code-reading question that assesses your ability to trace execution and predict output from a C++ snippet. It rewards careful attention to language semantics, operator precedence, and control flow—skills essential in interview settings where candidates must reason about code correctness under time pressure.

To work through questions like this, you read the code methodically, track variable state at each step, and account for any non-obvious language behaviour. The question may involve subtle interactions between operators, scope rules, or standard-library behaviour. Interviewers use these problems to verify that you understand not just the intent of code, but exactly what it does.

• Operator precedence and associativity
• Control-flow statements and their interaction
• Variable scope and lifetime
• Standard-library function semantics