3 ms·

Article is from 2012 which is why it seems a little naive. Then again, my first interview question is "what's wrong with garbage collection?" and if you can't

by tacos 11y ago

Article is from 2012 which is why it seems a little naive. Then again, my first interview question is "what's wrong with garbage collection?" and if you can't give me three specific use cases where it's a non-starter then that's usually the end of the loop.

_ph_ 11y ago
If you phrased the interview question like that, I would automatically fail any interview with you. I have been working with GCed languages for 20 years now, and certainly know the ins and outs of GC a bit. So, if your question is, which are problematic situations with GC and which mistakes were made in some popular GC languages, we could have had an interesting discussion. But asking "what is wrong with GC?" suggests to me that you want to hear why GC is a bad idea and asking like that would quickly weed out people who are very knowledgeable in writing good performing programs on GC languages.
- yakult 11y ago
  I'm fairly certain that in an actual interview, if you'd just pretend the interviewer asked you your preferred question and gave the answer you would have given, you can have the interesting conversation you wanted. Language is an imprecise tool and interpretation is fluid. Why pick the least charitable interpretation by default?
- tacos 11y ago
  I have been interviewing candidates for 20+ years now and that precise language has been refined. Any super-strong opinion one way or the other is itself a great bit of information, especially among a candidate who lists both Java/C# and C/C++ on his resume. If it makes you feel any better, in the early 90s the question was "what's wrong with malloc?" And I'm sure you'd do just fine. Amazing how many people don't, though. Better predictor of success than any of this "walk a tree" nonsense and no whiteboard required.
  - _ph_ 11y ago
    Thats fair, but then you should have your post phrased differently. You are not literally requiring three use cases as an answer to your question or ending the interview, but rather you are using it as a starter for a discussion. Indeed, it is better to have a more general discussion about the foundations one is to work on, then to solve random riddles.

by tacos 11y ago

_ph_ 11y ago

If you phrased the interview question like that, I would automatically fail any interview with you. I have been working with GCed languages for 20 years now, and certainly know the ins and outs of GC a bit. So, if your question is, which are problematic situations with GC and which mistakes were made in some popular GC languages, we could have had an interesting discussion. But asking "what is wrong with GC?" suggests to me that you want to hear why GC is a bad idea and asking like that would quickly weed out people who are very knowledgeable in writing good performing programs on GC languages.

yakult 11y ago
I'm fairly certain that in an actual interview, if you'd just pretend the interviewer asked you your preferred question and gave the answer you would have given, you can have the interesting conversation you wanted. Language is an imprecise tool and interpretation is fluid. Why pick the least charitable interpretation by default?
tacos 11y ago
I have been interviewing candidates for 20+ years now and that precise language has been refined. Any super-strong opinion one way or the other is itself a great bit of information, especially among a candidate who lists both Java/C# and C/C++ on his resume. If it makes you feel any better, in the early 90s the question was "what's wrong with malloc?" And I'm sure you'd do just fine. Amazing how many people don't, though. Better predictor of success than any of this "walk a tree" nonsense and no whiteboard required.
- _ph_ 11y ago
  Thats fair, but then you should have your post phrased differently. You are not literally requiring three use cases as an answer to your question or ending the interview, but rather you are using it as a starter for a discussion. Indeed, it is better to have a more general discussion about the foundations one is to work on, then to solve random riddles.