Ask HN: Where can I find coding puzzles that require “out of the box” thinking?

#1

Post by rayalez » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 4:31 AM UTC

I am aware of the Project Euler. The thing I'm looking for is the puzzles/challenges with the emphasis on "out of the box" thinking, the challenges where the first solution that comes to mind doesn't work, or that strongly encourage searching for unusual/unintended solutions.

Such as 9-dots puzzle, but for programming.

Possibly something that would be to coding/math what "What if?" by xkcd is to physics - crazy questions with extremely unexpected solutions.

If you know about books/websites that collect these puzzles, or you know some good examples yourself - please share them.

If you have any ideas on how I could learn to invent these puzzles myself, or maybe some programming projects that could be a source for a lot of such challenges - please share them too, that would be extremely valuable as well.

P.S. Ideally these puzzles would be small and simple enough to be solvable by a beginner/intermediate programmer, although that is not a strict requirement, more advanced examples are very welcome too.

EDIT: To be clear, these puzzles are for me. To train my brain and have fun and get better at hacking. Not to test or train other people. Well, maybe also to list them on my blog, if I manage to gather a cool collection.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find coding puzzles that require “out of the box” thinking?

#2

Post by czbond » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 4:53 AM UTC

Really? So you're using these tests as a crutch? The personality type who does well on these may have no correlation to actual work. Even Google has stopped using these. I ask simple "What if" questions, and describe a scenario, sit with a white board, and see their next steps. It shows their strengths, their weaknesses, where they go to first, where they find passion, and where they find dis-interest. That's my approach.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find coding puzzles that require “out of the box” thinking?

#3

Post by rayalez » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 4:58 AM UTC

czbond wrote: post #2

Really? So you're using these tests as a crutch? The personality type who does well on these may have no correlation to actual work. Even Google has stopped using these. I ask simple "What if" questions, and describe a scenario, sit with a white board, and see their next steps. It shows their strengths, their weaknesses, where they go to first, where they find passion, and where they find dis-interest. That's my appr…

I think you've mistaken me for an HR person =) I want these challenges for myself, to get better at programming and to train my creative thinking. And for fun)