The Overwritten Hour

A medium Python interview practice problem on DataDriven. Write and execute real python code with instant grading.

Domain

Python

Difficulty

medium

Seniority

mid

Problem

A fixed-size ring buffer stores tick timestamps in ascending order, but once the writer looped back to the start it overwrote the head, so the values now read as one ascending run that wraps around a single pivot. Given `readings` in that wrapped order and a `target`, return the index where `target` sits, or `-1` if it is not present. The values are distinct, and the buffer is large enough that a probe should lean on its ordering rather than touch every slot.

Summary

The log wrapped on itself. The order is still there, just not where you would look.

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