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Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by icsa on Monday December 27, 2021 @05:37AM (#29701295)
I was referring these common interview skills:

Understanding the problem

Stating one's assumptions

Verifying one's assumptions

Selecting a data structure appropriate for the problem

Selecting or describing an algorithm appropriate for the problem

Selecting test cases appropriate for the problem

Writing the code

Verifying the correctness of the code

Understanding & communicating the time & space complexity of your solution

N.B. IMO, the best programming language for technical interviews is Python. It provides many built-in data structures and methods that make one's solutions brief and eliminate the need to write a lot of boilerplate code.

Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by tester756 on Monday December 27, 2021 @07:34PM (#29708776)
I don't see anything special in this list

>It provides many built-in data structures and methods that make one's solutions brief and eliminate the need to write a lot of boilerplate code.

Could you name some? the most important / handy in your opinion?

Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by icsa on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @02:57AM (#29711515)
Data structures:

vector/list

dictionary/hashmap/hash table

queue

priority queue

heap

Methods/Algorithms:

min/max

insert/delete

contains key

list comprehension

N.B. I've done most of my interviews in C and watching me code has been referred as "watching paint dry" because of all of the boilerplate code that I have to write.

Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by tester756 on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @06:49AM (#29712820)
It feels very standard, don't all language have it in their standard libs?

C# has all of this + LINQ (very handy list comprehension?)

Java probably too + it has streams

Idk about other

Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by icsa on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @02:11PM (#29716849)
> It feels very standard, don't all language have it in their standard libs?

Many do. However, ease of use is an issue.

Some interviews don't allow you to look up the names of types & methods nor use IDEs that provide pop-up lists of types & method names.

You have to everything in a basic editor w/o IDE support.

Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by therealdavesky on Friday December 31, 2021 @09:44PM (#29754952)
dont forget graph theory. FB caught me off guard on a takehome project which involved contact tracing (very timely in 2021) Dyjkstra's algorithm (spelling?) and backward tracing through graph nodes
Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by icsa on Monday January 03, 2022 @11:34PM (#29791366)
Yes, I forgot Depth-First Search/Traversal and Breadth-First Search/Traversal.

Those two algorithms are the workhorses of graph algorithms.

Advanced graph algorithms include Dijkstra's algorithm, Minimum Spanning Tree, Strongly Connected Components, among others.

In addition, dynamic programming (DP) also shows up as a more advanced algorithm/technique in high-level interviews.

Re:Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired by ruang on Monday December 27, 2021 @09:20PM (#29709576)
Excellent list, thank you!