Code Room
CodingHardcod-g216
Subject ParsingLevel Senior–Staff~35 minCommon in Algorithms & data structures interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

Parse a simplified nested-list literal made only of non-negative integers, commas, and square brackets (no whitespace), e.g. '[1,[2,3],[]]'. Return the corresponding nested Python list of ints. The grammar: a value is either an integer (one or more digits) or a bracketed, comma-separated list of values; an empty list is '[]'. Assume the input is always syntactically valid and the top level is always a bracketed list. Integers fit in normal Python ints.

Implement
parse_nested(s: str) → list
Examples
in["[1,[2,3],[]]"]out[1,[2,3],[]]
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.