Code Room
CodingMediumcod-g694
Subject Dijkstra variantsLevel Mid–Senior~25 minCommon in Algorithms & data structures interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

A directed graph on n nodes (0..n-1) has edges given as [u, v, w] where w may be negative. The graph contains NO negative cycle. Return the length of the shortest path from node s to node t, or -1 if t is unreachable. Because edges can be negative, plain Dijkstra is invalid. Constraints: 1 <= n <= 500; -1000 <= w <= 1000.

Implement
shortest_path_neg(n: int, edges: list[list[int]], s: int, t: int) → int
Examples
in[5,[[0,1,4],[0,2,5],[1,2,-3],[2,3,4],[1,3,8],[3,4,2]],0,4]out7
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.