CodingMediumcod-g486

Subject Game theoryLevel Mid–Senior~20 minCommon in Algorithms & data structures interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

In a game of Nim there are several piles of stones given by `piles`. Players alternate; on a turn a player removes any positive number of stones from exactly one pile. The player who cannot move (faces all-empty piles) loses. Assuming both play optimally and the first player moves first, return True if the first player wins.

Implement

nim_first_player_wins(piles: list[int]) → bool

Examples

in[[1,2,3]]outfalse

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.

Learn the concepts

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.