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The environments were small open rooms where developers had computers lined next to each other. You would bump elbows with each other. I always str

The environments were small open rooms where developers had computers lined next to each other. You would bump elbows with each other. I always struggled to work in environments like that but always blamed it on ADHD etc. But, there's a lot of evidence that increased CO2 levels have negative effects on cognition, so maybe it wasn't just me. “why does a tennis ball have felt?” I know the correct answer(s) because I'm a tennis player but this feels like a really weird interview question. I understand the (highly dubious) point of these brain teasers - it's less about getting the "correct" answer and more about observing the candidate's thought process. But this one feels worse than most because I'm not sure how you could reason about it unless you're already pretty familiar with tennis. I do like open-ended, "I just want to learn more about the interviewee's thought process" questions in general; I just prefer them to be a little more relevant. Such as, - how would you troubleshoot particular problem XYZ? - how would you design the database schema given the following set of requirements? - what's a controversial/unpopular software development opinion you have? - what's the best project you ever worked on, and why? - what's one thing you'd change about $TECHNOLOGY_RELEVANT_TO_THE_ROLE_THEYRE_APPLYING_FOR ? - etc.

noah_buddy 5y ago
I've never played tennis in my life but I have a general idea how it works from pop culture so let's see if I can reason it out. The reason must have to do with either judging or playing the game (otherwise, why bother?). I'm no physicist or aeronautics engineer but I presume the fuzz is relatively negligible on ball speed over short distances, so it's probably not related to how the ball flies. It also doesn't seem realistic that it interacts with the racket or the court. One not so serious thought is perhaps it's got to do with net dynamics but that seems like an edge case I professional play. I haven't really watched tennis but I imagine most volleys end in balls bouncing out of bounds or a player not being able to return a hit. A little excessive to add fuzz for that. I also considered that maybe it's a means of having something adhere to the ball (like if it bounces on the line) but they have high speed cameras and line judges for those sorts of things. Guessing it's not that. If it doesn't affect the dynamics of the ball or the adjucation of a play, it seems to me that it's instead a more general indicator. You touch the fuzzy ball before every serve and feel the fuzziness. You have a finger sense for a good ball and worn one. If the ball is fuzzy enough, it's good enough. Therefore, it seems to me it's a quality indicator for players to know when to switch out. And I looked it up, it turns out I'm quite bad at physics! Won't spoil it any further for others trying to guess.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  Some of these are right and some of those are wrong. But far more importantly if I was an interviewer forced to ask you this question, I would really love your thought process there - I particularly like the way you ruled things out. Excellent work.
ALittleLight 5y ago
I'm not really familiar with tennis aside from playing a couple games in high school gym, seeing a game or two on TV, and reading an essay from David Foster Wallace. My approach would be to take what I assume the properties of felt are in terms of how they relate to a tennis game and assume that those properties are selected for. So, felt is probably a little cushion, giving the ball a little more durability as it gets whacked by rackets or off the ground. The felt provides grip, without which, a tennis ball may bounce off the ground in ways that are impossible to return. The color of the felt makes the ball easier to see (though of course you could color a nude call too). Something like that.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  My response to you is nearly identical to what I told a sibling commenter. Some of those things are right and some of them are wrong, but far more importantly I really like your thought process. I don't want to give "real" answer/answers, in case anybody else is having fun speculating! But I will also say that the "real" answer/answers are somewhat debatable. In the sense of: the players utilize the properties of the felt in particular ways. So, are the balls fuzzy because the players utilize those properties, or do the players utilize those properties because the balls are fuzzy? (Which came first, the chicken or the egg?) The answer itself is fuzzy, because the reality is that the ball and the players and the game have evolved steadily over ~100 years.

noah_buddy 5y ago

I've never played tennis in my life but I have a general idea how it works from pop culture so let's see if I can reason it out. The reason must have to do with either judging or playing the game (otherwise, why bother?). I'm no physicist or aeronautics engineer but I presume the fuzz is relatively negligible on ball speed over short distances, so it's probably not related to how the ball flies. It also doesn't seem realistic that it interacts with the racket or the court. One not so serious thought is perhaps it's got to do with net dynamics but that seems like an edge case I professional play. I haven't really watched tennis but I imagine most volleys end in balls bouncing out of bounds or a player not being able to return a hit. A little excessive to add fuzz for that. I also considered that maybe it's a means of having something adhere to the ball (like if it bounces on the line) but they have high speed cameras and line judges for those sorts of things. Guessing it's not that. If it doesn't affect the dynamics of the ball or the adjucation of a play, it seems to me that it's instead a more general indicator. You touch the fuzzy ball before every serve and feel the fuzziness. You have a finger sense for a good ball and worn one. If the ball is fuzzy enough, it's good enough. Therefore, it seems to me it's a quality indicator for players to know when to switch out. And I looked it up, it turns out I'm quite bad at physics! Won't spoil it any further for others trying to guess.

JohnBooty 5y ago
Some of these are right and some of those are wrong. But far more importantly if I was an interviewer forced to ask you this question, I would really love your thought process there - I particularly like the way you ruled things out. Excellent work.

ALittleLight 5y ago

I'm not really familiar with tennis aside from playing a couple games in high school gym, seeing a game or two on TV, and reading an essay from David Foster Wallace. My approach would be to take what I assume the properties of felt are in terms of how they relate to a tennis game and assume that those properties are selected for. So, felt is probably a little cushion, giving the ball a little more durability as it gets whacked by rackets or off the ground. The felt provides grip, without which, a tennis ball may bounce off the ground in ways that are impossible to return. The color of the felt makes the ball easier to see (though of course you could color a nude call too). Something like that.

JohnBooty 5y ago
My response to you is nearly identical to what I told a sibling commenter. Some of those things are right and some of them are wrong, but far more importantly I really like your thought process. I don't want to give "real" answer/answers, in case anybody else is having fun speculating! But I will also say that the "real" answer/answers are somewhat debatable. In the sense of: the players utilize the properties of the felt in particular ways. So, are the balls fuzzy because the players utilize those properties, or do the players utilize those properties because the balls are fuzzy? (Which came first, the chicken or the egg?) The answer itself is fuzzy, because the reality is that the ball and the players and the game have evolved steadily over ~100 years.