[cookiecaper]

It shouldn't take much demonstration to see that they are basically competent, and there shouldn't really be a difference between asking them to loosely state the commands they would issue and the process they would take and watching them do it.

People normally perform better by verbalizing the process than they would by sitting at their computer and performing it, since a lot of the concern in an interview can be whether you're getting your code/commands syntax-perfect or not.

The only way I can really see this going badly would be if the interviewer was only asking generalized questions that someone like a non-coder HN reader would be able to pick up from the zeitgeist without actually having ever implemented. Instead of asking about trends or fads, it's probably better to ask detailed questions about implementation processes.

If they really have internalized all the applicable concepts but can't express them in computer language, well, it shouldn't be hard for them to get up to speed on the syntactical fineries. Make sure you're testing for grokkiness of the core concepts needed, not how well they're following the trends or the news.

Personally I use a very small code test and put the rest of the energy into a detailed conversation.