Code Room
CodingMediumcod-g1284
Subject HeapsLevel Entry–Mid~15 minCommon in Distributed systems · Algorithms & data structures interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

Integers arrive one at a time from a stream. After each arrival, report the sum of the k largest values seen so far; while fewer than k values have arrived, report the sum of all of them. Return one total per arrival, in order. Values may repeat and may be negative. Example: nums = [3, 1, 5, 2], k = 2 gives [3, 4, 8, 8] — after the third arrival the two largest are 5 and 3, and the final 2 changes nothing.

Implement
running_top_k_sum(nums: list[int], k: int) → list[int]
Examples
in[[3,1,5,2],2]out[3,4,8,8]
What a strong answer looks like

State your approach and its time/space complexity out loud before you optimize. Handle the edge cases (empty input, duplicates, overflow), and say why you chose this over the brute force. Green tests are the floor, not the grade.

Vibe coding: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach. Generating runnable code from your description is coming next.

Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.