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They’re not though because they are totally out of context, there are no real stakes and ultimately you aren’t building anything. If you like solving puzzles t

They’re not though because they are totally out of context, there are no real stakes and ultimately you aren’t building anything. If you like solving puzzles then LC is your jam. Puzzles aren’t the same as Problems. The point of a puzzle is to solve the puzzle, in which case my brain just simply isn’t interested. The is no wider end goal. The point of a problem is to solve an issue for a wider context and, untimely improve a system/process/organisation in some way. In which case I’m all in and my brain starts firing on all cylinders. The are no puzzles in work, everything is a problem. LC is nothing but puzzles.

VirusNewbie 2y ago
Uh, knowing when to use a hashmap, recursion and a loop is not a puzzle. It's table stakes.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  No, but "failing" because you didn't use map.emplace instead of map.insert on a test that didn't let you look up documentation and you code in 4 other languages is definitely approaching gatekeeping instead of problem solving. Nevermind that the parameters for STL maps are convuluted to begin with if you're not using them everyday.
- zelphirkalt 2y ago
  Which is different though from LC being overly specific about how long you solution is allowed to take and how much memory etc.
- simonbarker87 2y ago
  Of course, and nothing in my comment suggests otherwise. You’ve highlighted tools and techniques that can be used to solve problems and puzzles. I don’t enjoy drawing for the sake of it but I’m happy to draw a sketch for a home layout or woodworking project, both require me to be able to use a pencil, but one I will do well in the other I would fail at. My point is that there are far better ways to test that than LC. My favourite interviews have been “here’s a real problem, placed in context, how would you solve it?” And “here’s an app with a handful of bugs, please fix it”

VirusNewbie 2y ago

Uh, knowing when to use a hashmap, recursion and a loop is not a puzzle. It's table stakes.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
No, but "failing" because you didn't use map.emplace instead of map.insert on a test that didn't let you look up documentation and you code in 4 other languages is definitely approaching gatekeeping instead of problem solving. Nevermind that the parameters for STL maps are convuluted to begin with if you're not using them everyday.
zelphirkalt 2y ago
Which is different though from LC being overly specific about how long you solution is allowed to take and how much memory etc.
simonbarker87 2y ago
Of course, and nothing in my comment suggests otherwise. You’ve highlighted tools and techniques that can be used to solve problems and puzzles. I don’t enjoy drawing for the sake of it but I’m happy to draw a sketch for a home layout or woodworking project, both require me to be able to use a pencil, but one I will do well in the other I would fail at. My point is that there are far better ways to test that than LC. My favourite interviews have been “here’s a real problem, placed in context, how would you solve it?” And “here’s an app with a handful of bugs, please fix it”