> (In case you were wondering, the _real_ answer I'm hoping for is "I'd ask Google Maps." I've had exactly two people give me this response in the 8+ years I've been giving this challenge. I don't know if it's because they think it's a dumb answer, if they know that I expect a code-related answer, or if it never occurs to them... but I like to think someone who wants to see what Google says isn't the type that constantly wants to reinvent the wheel. Note that NOT giving this answer is not a deal-breaker. I generally give the benefit of the doubt to candidates here.)
I'm surprised that this rarely seems to be brought up as a solution.
It was the first approach I had in mind since you really can't split and format all those potentially mistyped addresses reliably without looking them up in a database/directory of valid addresses.
It feels very obvious, however admittedly in an interview situation I might actually assume that the interviewer doesn't want me to use the third-party look up approach as it feels like cheating, which is somewhat absurd since it's the correct approach.
Yes, that's the conclusion I generally draw as well. It's an interview, and they think I expect them to write code. Personally, I'd answer with "I'd ask Google what they think, but if you want me to actually do it myself, I'd start with..."
I'm surprised that this rarely seems to be brought up as a solution. It was the first approach I had in mind since you really can't split and format all those potentially mistyped addresses reliably without looking them up in a database/directory of valid addresses.
It feels very obvious, however admittedly in an interview situation I might actually assume that the interviewer doesn't want me to use the third-party look up approach as it feels like cheating, which is somewhat absurd since it's the correct approach.