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>>> code I can memorise As an aside this reminded me of "benefit of clergy", where one could get a reduction in sentence if you could prove you were literate
by lifeisstillgood 6y ago
>>> code I can memorise
As an aside this reminded me of "benefit of clergy", where one could get a reduction in sentence if you could prove you were literate in court - by reading out a Psalm in Latin. Now, as it was always the same psalm, illiterate people could memorise the psalm and recite it as if reading.
(of course this was a legal fiction to allow courts to avoid handing out death sentences to all comers).
The thing is fizzbuzz is like Miserere Mei - it's a quick proxy for a form of literacy. Yes, anyone already literate could easily swot up that psalm. But anyone not literate could only learn the words off by heart - and any simple test such as read the next psalm, would unmask them.
So the easiness of fizzbuzz is kind of the point - we are not trying to work out if you are Phd or undergrad level. Just literate.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_of_clergy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_of_clergy
- dragonwriter 6y ago> this reminded me of "benefit of clergy", where one could get a reduction in sentence if you could prove you were literate in court - by reading out a Psalm in Latin. Now, as it was always the same psalm, illiterate people could memorise the psalm and recite it as if reading. IIRC, until the literacy test was abolished and the benefit made generally applicable to first-time offenders, the judge had the option of demanding a different work.be read if he suspected the privilege was being abused. > (of course this was a legal fiction to allow courts to avoid handing out death sentences to all comers). Well, it evolved into such a fiction (and eventually even the literacy test was removed). But it didn't originate as one, and didn't originally involve a sentence reduction but transfer to ecclesiastical court from secular court.