Not really. It's more like asking a truck driver to read a sign at 20 feet, and to flex his hands and legs to make sure he's able to control the wheel and peda

Not really. It's more like asking a truck driver to read a sign at 20 feet, and to flex his hands and legs to make sure he's able to control the wheel and pedals. The idea with writing code on paper in an interview is to disqualify the blind-since-birth truck drivers who would point to a rubber duckie in a line-up and say "That one! That is a truck."