I am developing a rule of thumb for this: the more pointedly in-depth your technical question is, the more likely you produce false negatives through obfuscatio

I am developing a rule of thumb for this: the more pointedly in-depth your technical question is, the more likely you produce false negatives through obfuscation of intent. The grandparent's "what does this mean" question suffers particularly from being in-depth without stating it. Every CS student who learns C gets the high level treatment of pointers. But in many cases, their class does not proceed on to examine what this looks like in assembly code, except in a separate course devoted to ASM or compilers where it might be mentioned obliquely that such a representation exists. That is a relevant skill, but you have to ask for it. An easier way to get there is to ask how a C compiler turns a pointer assignment into executable binary, working backwards from the output. There are now degrees of success, since the candidate gets to discuss how compilers work if they're really engaged. But a basic answer can still capture the essence.