Stop Word String Processing

Problem Overview

The 'classic 1point3acres stop words problem,' reported on Perplexity phone screens (and described as easier than the ToDo-list round). Part 1: given a string and a stop-word vocabulary, return the substring before the first stop-word occurrence (a stop word may appear anywhere as a substring). Part 2: process input too…

• 3 candidate-reported follow-ups — the exact probes interviewers asked, with the trigger for each
• The rest of the problem statement — full requirements, constraints, and edge cases
• Approach and trade-offs — what passing candidates did, and the mistakes that sink people