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The most irritating thing with these competitive/algo stuff is that no matter how many times you master it - eventually you always forget it, because you don't need it on a daily (or more like yearly) basis in the real world.
Arguably competitive programming helps with this problem by letting you drill the concepts you've learned.
The most irritating thing with these competitive/algo stuff is that no matter how many times you master it - eventually you always forget it, because you don't need it on a daily (or more like yearly) basis in the real world.
Is there a printed hard copy version available as a book? I’d love to buy it. I’m a big fan of highlighting and annotating books with a pencil. This is a great summary to a ton of CS algorithms and datastructures. Thanks for compiling this.
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Yeah right. Tell me the last time you built your own red-black tree in real actual code at work. Or did a sort by any other means than tacking “order by” on the end of a query. They are a test of how recently you crammed for your CS finals, that’s all.
Would be legit if the job required tasks like implementing red-black trees or sorts. As is, it's more like advertising for python, then surprise java.
But those kinds of questions make zero sense and have zero value if the job is actually implementing CRUD apps in a high level language. You might as well quiz candidates on their assembly language skills too, for a Python job...
So there is obviously an ulterior motive.
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Another filter for age is that 20-something’s are more likely to have time for this whereas older people may have more time commitments already People in their 20s and 30s now will regret not stamping out ageism when they hit their 40s and 50s, as they inevitably will
> People in their 20s and 30s now will regret not stamping out ageism when they hit their 40s and 50s, as they inevitably will The problem is, everyone in their 20s and 30s assumes they'll be gazillionaires by the time they're 40, because of course they're brilliant and hard work always pays off! Ageism is only a factor if you're not smart enough to make a billion by the time you're facing it.
The most irritating thing with these competitive/algo stuff is that no matter how many times you master it - eventually you always forget it, because you don't need it on a daily (or more like yearly) basis in the real world.
It's not about needing it in "the real world". It's about having fun. It's about the adrenalin rushing through your veins as the clock ticking down. It's about burst of joy when your brain just clicks and the invisible wall falls down, showing a path to the solution. I still do Putnam and IMO every year, I also occasionally take an hour or two during work and just solve Math problems. Solving problems is a hobby, jus…
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Maybe it's just a way to provide a fair test that anyone with ability can pass with a little practice?
Rote leaning and getting a piece of paper is not a good way to interview for candidates who can when given a task that wasn't on the test research and implement a solution under their own power.
The most irritating thing with these competitive/algo stuff is that no matter how many times you master it - eventually you always forget it, because you don't need it on a daily (or more like yearly) basis in the real world.
People who discovered/invented these algorithms traversed several years of curiosity, blind alleys, dead ends, failures and successes. You can't possibly expect to get it all and make it up on memorization alone.
Algorithm learning is hard for the same reasons memorizing Math tables are hard.
As of today there is nothing novel about merely learning how a algorithm works and spitting it out in an interview, if anything it achieves the exact opposite goal of what it is supposed to.
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It's not about needing it in "the real world". It's about having fun. It's about the adrenalin rushing through your veins as the clock ticking down. It's about burst of joy when your brain just clicks and the invisible wall falls down, showing a path to the solution. I still do Putnam and IMO every year, I also occasionally take an hour or two during work and just solve Math problems. Solving problems is a hobby, jus…
if we're going to take the video game comparison further, then there is something better you could be doing with your time.
The most irritating thing with these competitive/algo stuff is that no matter how many times you master it - eventually you always forget it, because you don't need it on a daily (or more like yearly) basis in the real world.
This is true for lots of things though, right? Programming languages, spoken languages, mathematics, muscle mass...use it or lose it, but it gets easier to re-learn/re-gain everything each time. Plus you don't necessarily have to forget or lose it if you're able to set aside the time to maintain it.