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by calcifer 2706 days ago
> Google for "tree traversal" and spend 10 minutes researching common algorithms.

The point is you wouldn't know what to search for. If you don't know anything about cars, you wouldn't be able to search for "alternator fault". The best you could do is "engine problems" which won't help you solve the actual problem.
1 comments
0xFACEFEED 2706 days ago
You're implying that someone who can't invent a BFS on the spot also doesn't know what tree traversal is. That's not true at all.
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calcifer 2706 days ago
If you can program [1], you can do BFS - no need to "invent" anything. Given a tree like this [2], asking you to "print the numbers in order" is not a difficult question, it's a trivial one.

I would expect any interviewee that calls themselves a programmer to talk me through a reasonable answer to that question. Forget about what BFS means - you don't even need to know what a tree is. Looking at the image is all you need.

[1] https://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/

[2] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Breadth-...

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