That's ridiculous. I've worked with people who could recite K&R C or Stroustrup's C++ Reference Manual line for line and who still couldn't program for shit.

That's the needless education, not the ability. A proper test is doing something real, not conjugating types and reading obfuscated code.

Is this scenario real? Where were you interviewing and how did you do?

It is real. I haven't done it, but I was told of its existence by a friend at a company that I won't name. I'm trying to see if I can convince him to give me the test -- my gut feeling is that I'd fail it, despite 12 years of programming and knowing enough languages that when I count I forget some. I'm just more of a 'learn by doing' rather than 'learn by reading' guy.

Why won't you name the company? I don't get this, it's not like you accused them of a crime or something. Why would it matter?

Most companies don't want their programming tests out in the wild, usually. Plus I'm not exactly doing this with his permission.