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"Choose the next best move in chess or go for example (or design a simple sudoku solver). " You make the assumption that your candidate knows anything about th
by LockeWatts 14y ago
"Choose the next best move in chess or go for example (or design a simple sudoku solver). "
You make the assumption that your candidate knows anything about those games. If you placed me in front of a chess board, said "these are what the pieces do" and then asked me to tell you the next best move, that move will either be A) blindingly obvious to anyone who has played chess for years, or B) too difficult to someone who has never played the game before.
Reapply the same paragraph to Go and Sudoku. You've created a filter for someone who plays games, not problem solving skills.
- danielweber 14y agoThat's why the interviewer should ask if they are familiar with those games first. Even Connect Four or tic-tac-toe can be a useful exercise to go over with someone.
- ironchef 14y agoNo...I don't make the assumption they know anything about those games. I start off talking to them about some of the above games.. One could just as simply walk through other games (checkers, tick-tack-toe, hangman, etc.). Or...if they've never played games, then you could walk through other somewhat classic problems (how should one load an airplane, the back of a car when travelling). My point was largely that there are a variety of problems out there which have "no right answer" yet are fairly intuitive to get started on...and figuring out modeling of the problem space in combination with decision logic is an excellent example of problem solving which may help one see how a candidate attacks problems, optimizes, etc.
- jmelloy 14y agoSudoku's kind of a fun one, because brute force works just fine. More elegant solutions use the same strategies humans use, but recursive brute force gets the job done just fine.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]