[gaius]

Yeah right. Tell me the last time you built your own red-black tree in real actual code at work. Or did a sort by any other means than tacking “order by” on the end of a query.

They are a test of how recently you crammed for your CS finals, that’s all.

[bradlys]

Or how much effort you're willing to put into prepping for interviewing and getting a new job. It definitely filters against the casual looker.

Which, to some extent, makes sense. You're basically filtering out people who won't put in the effort to get the job. Whether or not those who put in the extra effort are actually going to be better employees is a different decision.

[nordsieck]

There are languages - C and Go, and to a lesser extent, C++ - in which re-implementation of data structures and algorithms is not uncommon.

To your larger point, data structures and algorithms are popular in interviews for the same reason Project Euler is popular - it is very easy to ask a well defined, but interesting question about core CS or math.

[hyperpallium]

Would be legit if the job required tasks like implementing red-black trees or sorts.

As is, it's more like advertising for python, then surprise java.

[gaius]

Indeed. If the job was implementing algorithms on bare metal then bring it on! That job sounds like a lot of fun!

But those kinds of questions make zero sense and have zero value if the job is actually implementing CRUD apps in a high level language. You might as well quiz candidates on their assembly language skills too, for a Python job...

So there is obviously an ulterior motive.

[harshgupta]

Tell me a better standardized question set for programmers that measures intelligence efficiently.

[gaius]

Do you think that that’s what that does? Interesting.