[otterley]

I both agree and disagree with you.

I agree that the answer was a good one in the real-world sense, and one that I would like an engineer to use under the right circumstances.

I disagree that the answer demonstrated engineering prowess, however. Sometimes you have to assume the lack of existence of certain tools to understand how a candidate would have implemented the solution him- or herself to get a more thorough understanding of his or her engineering chops.