If you read an algorithms book, like Sedgwick's, you should be mostly set. Usually they're trying to figure out who actually understands how pointers, memory, a

If you read an algorithms book, like Sedgwick's, you should be mostly set. Usually they're trying to figure out who actually understands how pointers, memory, and complexity work. (A lot of devs don't know basics at all, like binary search or even how to do am in place reversal of an array or something). I wouldn't expect a very genre specific question (like graphics) unless they provided enough info that you could figure it out from first principles. And sometimes they just wanna make sure you can think it through, even if you don't find the most optimal solution. A lot of devs simply give up with an "I don't know", without indicating that they have any ideas on how they'd figure it out.