This is the problem-solving pattern I follow for solving coding challenges. I learned this flow from my bootcamp curriculum at Springboard.
1. Read the problem. Can I restate the problem in my own words? 2. What are the inputs? What data types can I expect here? 3. What is my expected output and its data type? 4. Do I have enough information to solve the problem? Do I need to ask any more clarifying questions? 5. How am I going to label the important pieces of data that go into the problem? 6. Can I run though a simple example of the problem in my own words? 7. How about a more complex example? 8. How am I going to handle empty/invalid inputs? 9. Write my pseudocode. Does this reveal anything else I don't understand about the problem? 10. What's the core difficulty? Is there a simpler problem I can solve? 11. Using my debugging tools, what am I seeing? What hypotheses can I form about why my code is not working, and how can I test them? 12. Does my result match my expected output, or do I need to do type coercion of some sort? 13. Can I improve the O(n) of my solution? 14. Are my tests still passing? Can I write more?