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Max Subarray Sum

Python data engineering interview problem. Difficulty: beginner. Pattern: Dynamic Programming. About 10 minutes. Free to practice.

Maximum sum of any contiguous subarray (Kadane). Treat this as a production helper: match the contracted return shape, including empty and duplicate inputs.

Implement max_subarray(nums: list) -> int returning the maximum subarray sum. (subarray [4, -1, 2, 1]).

Constraints

  • At least one element.
  • Negatives allowed.

Examples

Input: max_subarray([-2, 1, -3, 4, -1, 2, 1, -5, 4]) Output: 6 Best window is 4,-1,2,1.

Topics: lakebench, python, kadane, subarray.

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beginner

Max Subarray Sum

Interview-style drill: Maximum sum of any contiguous subarray (Kadane).

Implement `max_subarray(nums: list) -> int` returning the maximum subarray sum. Example: `[-2, 1, -3, 4, -1, 2, 1, -5, 4]` → `6` (subarray `[4, -1, 2, 1]`). Keep the harness.