A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
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Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#2In addition to the points listed, it gives the algorithm nerds the opportunity to show their overqualification by whipping out the O(n) median algorithm and proving that it works in linear time.
Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#3I also like this question.
A fun follow up is asking a candidate how to compute the 25th and 75th percentiles or more broadly, the n-th percentile.
Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#4Only the median (or pair around the median) needs to be sorted, the other numbers can be unsorted :)
Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#5In addition to the points listed, it gives the algorithm nerds the opportunity to show their overqualification by whipping out the O(n) median algorithm and proving that it works in linear time.
I almost tanked an interview, and luckily turned it around, when the interviewer had never heard of QuickSelect and thought I was insane when I started writing it.
Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
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Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
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Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#8Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#9I don't know... I've been coding for ~30 years, and I've never had to write code to compute the median so it doesn't seem that useful unless it's somehow relevant to the job
Re: A software engineering interview question I like: computing the median
#10without thinking about it or looking at the article, this feels rather radixy