Re:Will the real programmers please stand up?
by edanm on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @05:37PM
(#1472933)
If I were an interviewer, here's what I'd be looking for:
1. You hear "reverse a linked list", you maybe ask some clarifying questions (expected efficiency, in-place or a new list, etc.).
2. You start drawing boxes with arrows on the whiteboard.
I've never been able to come up with any algorithm for a linked list without drawing a bunch of arrows and staring at them. And while lots of people might be too stressed out to come up with the algorithm, any programmer who has even a little experience with lists should know to start with that.
In other words, if you have any experience with this kind of stuff, it shows up pretty quickly by what you do/what you say.
1. You hear "reverse a linked list", you maybe ask some clarifying questions (expected efficiency, in-place or a new list, etc.).
2. You start drawing boxes with arrows on the whiteboard.
I've never been able to come up with any algorithm for a linked list without drawing a bunch of arrows and staring at them. And while lots of people might be too stressed out to come up with the algorithm, any programmer who has even a little experience with lists should know to start with that.
In other words, if you have any experience with this kind of stuff, it shows up pretty quickly by what you do/what you say.