> they asked me to write a heap allocation algorithm for the Linux kernel, and since I had recently written some kernel code, I happened to know (at the time) e

> they asked me to write a heap allocation algorithm for the Linux kernel, and since I had recently written some kernel code, I happened to know (at the time) exactly how to use the kernel linked list manipulation macros from memory, which really impressed the interviewer. > seem to give enough momentum to make mediocre coding performance a non-issue. These two statements contradict each other.