I'd have to check when I get home but I think just some standard ones like eslint, and then one called Blade Runner that runs a task on startup (purpose being that if I start the compile task on startup, that compile task runs the typescript compiler in watch mode, essentially enabling compile-on-save; VS Code doesn't appear to have the ability on its own to run a task automatically when opening a project).

Email I got before my onsite interview in a couple of weeks.

"Please be prepared to do live whiteboarding during your interview in any language including pseudo code."

Aw hell yes, pseudo code!

I'm surprised they didn't mention you to prepare for syntax highlighting on whiteboard or something similarly stupid.

I don't get it. What's wrong with saying "in any language"?

Barrin, even if they tell you that you can use pseudo code I would go as close to real syntax as possible and only save pseudo code for places where it saves a lot of time and doesn't make it seem like you don't know how to code.

Although, if you can't code, by all means, use pseudo code to show that you can think.

Huh. That seems strange to me, can you elaborate on that?

If someone sticks tightly to real syntax when asked to provide pseudo code then I'd probably rate that as a negative re communication skills. The point is to provide an easily understandable description of an algorithm, you should be able to come up with something better than real language syntax.

They aren't being asked to provide pseudo code, they are being asked to do some real time coding on a white board and if they can't do that with an actual language they can use pseudo language. Using pseudo code implies you aren't comfortable enough with any language to do a real time white board problem. If you can do it in a real language they use in their production environment that would be better.

I should mix it up and write a different language for each new line so I can show them I know more than one language.

I would put a very low confidence in any guesswork on what that sentence actually means.

@kerowo
Thanks for the clarification, that wasn't clear to me from jjs/Barrins posts.

If someone told me to whiteboard a problem and it's ok to use pseudo code, that's what I'd use because it is clearly more appropriate for a whiteboard setting than scribbling down e.g. real Java syntax.

The whole idea of doing real syntax whiteboard problems seems painful to me, but i realize it's probably a common thing.

plexiq - I said "as close to real syntax as possible". imo, for most developers doing that should not take significantly longer than using pseudo code - unless you're giving a very high level solution.

Yeah, without additional context I was surprised about your advice and it's not primarily about it taking longer. In a vacuum, without anyone testing/interviewing you, using (very close to) real syntax would not be your first choice for explaining an algorithm on a whiteboard to co-workers, right? (Maybe I'm just biased because Java isn't exactly a compact language, idk.)

If the standard expectation in interviews is that you should solve using real syntax, and only switch to pseudo code when you are not sure about details, then that's a different story of course.

this compilers class is gonna be rough

Hacker news story about a forbidden topic here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13423629

Not interested in discussions of toe rents, but curious about what you all think of the site generally. People in the comments seem to be freaking out about the server response time, lack of JavaScript, DMCA policy, etc. Fun to see how quickly the community there springs into action with advice on whois registration and whatnot.

I guess it depends? If all we care about is the high level algorithm, then sure I don't use anything close to real code. It's like bullet point text. I'm not even sure I'd call it pseudo code, but sure it probably is.

But if we're getting into any sort of details, I really do use pretty close to real code. I'm not going to care about if I have every semi colon right or if I use size instead of length, and I might call a function that is obvious what it will do without implementing it or assume the language has a binary sort algorithm without looking up exactly how it works. But if I need to show how an algorithm is actually implemented I think it's pretty useful to use the constructs and practices that are available to you in the language you're using.

And in an interview your goal is to demonstrate skills and stuff. So if you can code, show them you can code. If you can't code well enough to still be able to answer the core question being asked of you - pick your poison and figure out what you think is most important to demonstrate and sacrifice trying to show off other things.

I guess that's where our assumptions differ. When asked to whiteboard a problem and told that it's OK to use pseudo code, I would have assumed that I'm being tested about my ability to communicate the workings of an algorithm in an easy-to-understand form. And if that were the criteria then simply sticking to real syntax may be viewed as poor communication skills, ie interpreted as not being able to come up with something more succinct.

(I haven't done any whiteboard problems for ages and don't doubt that you are right in practice. But if someone wants to test if I can code in a certain language, I guess they should rather sit me in front of an ide.)

Anyway, sorry for the derail :-)

I think there are some cases where pseudocode should be mixed in with real code. I had a phone interview with a company that used mainly Java, Scala, and python.

I elected to use C++ as my coding language during the phone interview. It is the language where I know all the syntax of all the standard container libraries (hash tables, linked list, queue, stack etc). What I did not realize was the interviewer was unfamiliar with C++. So writing something where you check if a key exists in a hash table would look very foreign to someone who isn't familiar with C++.

Example of checking if a key exists in a hash table for C++
I think in cases like this, I should have maybe wrote something much simpler to convey what I was doing even if it wouldn't be compilable?

As for whiteboarding interview, my default is to write real code. But depending on the constraints and what the interviewer is looking for, I may substitute pseudocode in places where it makes sense.

Of course this all depends on the company too. Google was strict about writing real code that compiled. They actually copy what you write on the whiteboard and make sure it compiles and run.

I did this in a whiteboard once and was somewhat tersely berated. I wasnt like agonizing over commas and semicolons, just casually tagging them on. They told me to stop that. aholes imo.

is there an equivalent to cracking the coding interview in a video series?

OmgGlutten, most interview problems fall into categories that cracking the code has listed. Often times if you are struggling with a particular subject, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, you can look up videos on particular problems on how to do it. I would also recommend looking over CLRS as a reference.

You could also ask the interviewer what they mean.

This reinforces the trope of programmers not being able to talk to people.

Just lol pseudocode. I would not hire someone who can't write real code in some language. It's a red flag that person has no experience and vastly oversold their skills (resume) to get an interview

Nobody suggested you should hire someone who can't write real code. We were actively discouraged from using real syntax in a whiteboard setting when presenting exercises at university and i thought the reasoning wasn't unreasonable. Apparently this is still a thing (see Victor's experience).

Unrelated, some random vacation project i wrote:
Quarto AI (Fun little board game, although writing this kind of ruined it for me.)

If someone breezes through whiteboard problems in pseudocode, I'm not going to be that worried about whether they can write code in a real language.

Idk about "real live programmers" but I'm a data scientist that codes mainly in R. I have to Google everything or c/p from past scripts. I'd get murdered if I had to code on a whiteboard. Should I be worried?

Depends on how much of the job is writing R and how much is being a data scientist.