Week 09 (Jul 20 – Jul 26, 2026) — 1-D DP (Sprint S5 of 8)
12 problems. DP = the make-or-break bucket. Theory block first. Timer on, solo.
→ Curriculum: [[Coach/project_dsa_sd_curriculum]] | Coach state: [[synthesis/Coach Hub]]
Goals This Week
DSA Problem Set (12)
| # | Problem | LC | Diff | Target | Solved? | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | Climbing Stairs | 70 | E | 15 min | ☐ | | fib base |
| 2 | Min Cost Climbing Stairs | 746 | E | 15 min | ☐ | | |
| 3 | House Robber | 198 | M | 20 min | ☐ | | rob/skip |
| 4 | House Robber II | 213 | M | 25 min | ☐ | | circular → 2 passes |
| 5 | Longest Palindromic Substring | 5 | M | 30 min | ☐ | | expand-around-center |
| 6 | Palindromic Substrings | 647 | M | 25 min | ☐ | | same expand |
| 7 | Decode Ways | 91 | M | 30 min | ☐ | | 1-digit + 2-digit transitions |
| 8 | Coin Change | 322 | M | 30 min | ☐ | | unbounded min |
| 9 | Maximum Product Subarray | 152 | M | 25 min | ☐ | | track min+max |
| 10 | Word Break | 139 | M | 30 min | ☐ | | dp over prefixes |
| 11 | Longest Increasing Subsequence | 300 | M | 30 min | ☐ | | O(n²) then patience O(n log n) |
| 12 | Partition Equal Subset Sum | 416 | M | 30 min | ☐ | | 0/1 knapsack bool |
Score: __/12 on time
SD + Redis + DDIA
| Item | Status | Notes |
|---|
| SD: Uber / Yelp | ⬜ | geohash/quadtree, driver-location updates, matching — ties to your WebSocket geo war story |
| Redis: GEO + cluster | ⬜ | GEOADD/GEOSEARCH; cluster slots, hash tags |
| DDIA: Ch8 Transactions pt1 | ⬜ | ACID, isolation levels, read committed/snapshot |
Daily Plan (compact)
- Mon: DP theory (1-D framework: state, transition, base) + LC 70, 746
- Tue: LC 198, 213
- Wed: LC 5, 647 + Redis GEO
- Thu: LC 91, 322 + SD Uber high-level (lean on geo story)
- Fri: LC 152, 139 + DDIA Ch8.1
- Sat: LC 300, 416 + Uber whiteboard cold
- Sun: retro + scorecard + create S6 tracker
Decision Gate (Sun Jul 26)
| Score | Verdict | S6 |
|---|
| 10–12 | Pass strong | 2-D DP (11) + Autocomplete + Redis persistence |
| 7–9 | Patchy | 2-D DP + retry weak 1-D |
| <7 | Fail | Repeat 1-D DP in S6 — DP is non-negotiable |
Hours Log
| Day | Planned | Actual |
|---|
| Mon–Sun | ~24h | |
Retro (fill Sun)
- Solved on time: __/12 | Weakest: __ | SD: __ | Redis: __ | DDIA: __ | S6 decision: __