You should be spending from 2 to 4 hours to finish this test.
At Stuart, the most popular programming languages are NodeJS/Typescript, Ruby and Python. You are encouraged to attempt this assessment in any of the languages mentioned.
Being able to track the spare capacity that a courier has in their vehicle at any time is crucial. Our Dispatcher (the brain that optimizes the delivery routes) needs this input so that it can understand if a courier has room enough space in their vehicle.
Write an API that will be queried by two services: the Stuart API and the Dispatcher.
The Stuart API will need to keep in sync the list of Couriers in the platform as well as their max capacity (in liters).
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/couriers --data '
{
"courier_id": 1234,
"max_capacity": 45
}'The Dispatcher will need to query this API to find out which couriers do have available space.
curl -X GET http://localhost:3000/couriers/lookup --data '
{
"capacity_required": 45
}'Write the API that will allow adding, removing and updating couriers' capacities, as well as an endpoint that will lookup and return a list of couriers whose capacity is greater or equal to the one required.
In case you are feeling going deeper, here are some proposed bonus goals. Pick any that you want or add your own.
- Courier capacities vary as they pick and deliver packages. Allow the API to update a courier's available capacity at any moment as they are assigned new packages.
- We plan to run this service in the AWS environment. Prepare this API to be deployed.
- Come up with a smart and scalable output schema that is future-proof. Explain why you think it is so.
- How about race conditions? How would you avoid race conditions if a lookup is being executed and a capacity update comes?
- …
- How do we run this API? Please provide the right amount of documentation in any format you prefer.
- Show off! We love TDD. We love unit tests. We love design patterns. We love engineering!
- If you were to have more time, what would you do? Briefly explain what could be improved.
- If you have further questions, don't hesitate asking.