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I was thinking about the Interview threads the other day. What are some of the brain-teaser kind of puzzles you've been asked, like Fiz-Buz, etc?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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I was once asked, "Which type of loop is more appropriate for modelling a bouncing ball, a for loop or a while loop?"
I don't recall which was the correct answer, but I do remember that I initially got it "wrong." However, I argued my case and the interviewer eventually agreed with me.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I would hazard a while loop, in that the number of bounces is seldom known ahead of time.
while ballSpeed > 0
bounce
You could have some incredibly complex expression as a for loop condition, but while seems more appropriate for including that calculation inside the loop, where this is simply a mortal sin in for loops.
No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde
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I'd go with a FOR, decrementing by a calculation based on the initial height and gravity.
Or a WHILE that uses exactly the same calculation.
i.e. It's a bluddy stupid question. Apply for a different job, where intelligent people work.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: i.e. It's a bluddy stupid question. Apply for a different job, where intelligent people work.
And we have a winner.
No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde
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No brain teasers or silly things like that that I recall, but there was one where I was asked to write a function that would determine whether or not two strings were rotations of each other, e.g. given "houseboat" and "boathouse" it would return true.
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- I was given 7 pennies, and challenged with making 2 rows of 4.
- Reverse a singly linked list.
- Test if a character is a capital letter or not.
I don't like writing code on the board, I don't think linearly.
I jot down thoughts, and evaluate, refactor and iterate.
I have had interviews where I didn't verify the input as the very first thing I wrote, the interviewer immediately started to hem and haw. I'm fine with the attention and the pressure, however in that situation I already failed the test because I didn't solve the problem they wanted it to be solved.
One of these times after they put me through the ringer with an on the board test, and they ask "Do you have any questions?"
I want to say "Yeah, here is a brainteaser, could you code it on the board? I want to know how skilled the colleagues I work with are."
... Probably only if I have already decided I don't want the job though.
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Paul M Watt wrote: I want to say "Yeah, here is a brainteaser, could you code it on the board? I want to know how skilled the colleagues I work with are."
This I should print, put a frame around it and nail it on the wall. Simply brilliant!
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
I use 1TBS
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1. There is a black bag containing socks of two colours - blue and brown. You are allowed to put your hand inside the bag and remove 'N' number of socks (you can't see which colour till you've pulled it out). What should the minimum 'N' be such that you get two socks of the same colour?
Initially appeared like a probability problem, and I was afraid of probability at that time. Then, after two minute's thinking got it right.
2. Program to shuffle a pack of 52 cards, and "deal" three cards to a player.
Had to think of how to represent cards as a variable, then how to shuffle them, and pull out three. Gave the logic, but implementation in a language needed a search engine.
3. Program to display a scrolling marquee message on the screen "Your Name".
This involved a good understanding of the DrawText function, along with a timer. One tricky thing was how to make it come back on the right, as it starts disappearing on the left - does it need two instances of DrawText; not sure whether I answered it right.
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Avijnata wrote: There is a black bag containing socks of two colours
We had that question in primary school when doing our 11+ exams (when we were 11!) I think we all got it right! 2 minutes! 
Avijnata wrote: but implementation in a language needed a search engine.
! WHAT!?
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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Yes - some people like me gain intelligence slowly with age 
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The biggest head scratch I've had in years was in a practical assessment, where question spoke about an "Astronauts" database, which I dutifully built a connection string for, and then panicked because my old school ADO.NET (this was a requirement) code didn't work. I hadn't worked with SqlConnection and SqlCommand for a few years. Then, in a flash of inspiration, I somehow found the database to actually have a singular name, i.e. "Astronaut", and it worked.
Other than that, I don't recall anything really challenging for a really long time. I'm not lauding my abilities here, just commenting on interview and assessment questions.
No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde
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Then they asked the wrong questions.
I would have asked you...
If you light a candle in the space station, with plenty of oxygen,
will it burn normally or go out? Explain?
(For clarification, the space station is in orbit, and it has NOTHING
to do with the space station extinguishing fires!)
For me, the point of asking the question is to determine how someone
approaches a complex problem for which they cannot be expected to know the answer.
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Kirk 10389821 wrote: If you light a candle in the space station, with plenty of oxygen,
will it burn normally or go out? Explain?
is it an oxygen generating candle[^]? 
No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde
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You are the weakest link...
Goodbye
And No. Plenty of oxygen. Regular Candle.
But you get the point of the question.
Actually, in an interview (not using Google), if you could have referenced something like that, I would give you a bonus point for EXCESSIVE reading and good recall.
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Even if it burns normally it will still go out eventually.
Plus, I've seen plenty of candles burning normally on Star Trek.
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Nope.
It will extinguish itself.
As the wax melts, the lack of gravity in space does not pull the
wax away (Gravity helps to pull the wet wax down the candle, and it
also provides the rising heat requirements for the flame, which produces
a convection current, drawing fresh air in to the bottom).
Without the gravity, the capillary action of the wick rules the roost,
and it would draw the wax up the wick, extinguishing the flame.
Yes, and with regards to the Star Trek episode. they were NOT on the space station.
And I am not sure how far we are away from artificial gravity.
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They asked me.. If you are travelling from India to USA with stop over in Frankfurt and at the same time your friend will travel in opossite direction from USA to India with stopover in Frankfurt. In which part of the world will you meet during the travel or will be just 50 KM apart.
Please give the best possible answer . I was little confused but finally answered. This was a icebreaker question.
cheers,
Super
Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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if you're both laying over in Frankfurt, won't you meet in Frankfurt???
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Yes. Thats the answer I gave. I told them that with the available information provided,Frankfurt is the most easy way to meet.
cheers,
Super
Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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GitHub flavoured markdown, with the biggest change being you use ``` to start codeblocks
and the usual italics. bold and code (use *, ** and `` respectively). An addition is strike, which uses --.
You can also
If you're old school.
An important note is that to add a linebreak you'll need to either
add 2 spaces to the end of a line, or add a blank line between lines.
You may want to update your signatures if you leave the "Use Markdown formatting" button checked.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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COOL!
Me like!
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Would it be too much to ask for an alternative to ` ? It's a PITA on my (german) keyboard layout..
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Yeah - easy. What would you like?
cheers
Chris Maunder
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