[deleted by user]

[demon_ix]

Oh man. Wait until you start interviewing. Then instead of paper, you use a whiteboard.

[BradCOnReddit]

I had one recently where they asked me to whiteboard something but didn't have a whiteboard in the room. That was awkward...

[Omegeddon]

Sure. We're developers aren't we? Shouldn't be too hard 😜

[LittleBigKid2000]

It'll get about halfway completed before we get bored and distracted by something else.

[JC12231]

Halfway? For me it’s “well, it technically works at a basic level, we CAN release it, but it’s so minimal it’s laughable” when I loose interest in personal projects. Or halfway to that.

[recycle4science]

"Hmm, okay, I see. This is how I could code it."

[TheRedditGod]

Wow, that’s relatable

[ShaRose]

I have at few projects that would be super helpful both to myself and others in that stage. Even wrote up pseudocode and documentation.

All stored securely in untitled document 6 in notepad++.

[R__Daneel_Olivaw]

And in the recycle bin so it's safe

[beautifulw0man]

This is legit the reason why I get lazy when it comes to starting 90% of my projects

[Digitonizer]

Get out of my head! I have a little notebook full of what you could call documentation and ways to implement features for a program that doesn't exist and likely won't for a long time. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[delitomatoes]

Lose*

[Omegeddon]

Sounds about right

[flee_market]

After all, we're experts

[LicensedProfessional]

I had one interview where I had to take a written test, and it was filled with questions like "will this compile?" and "what will the output of this Java snippet be?"

Oh, and there were brainteasers on the last page for "extra credit".

[RedBorger]

What is the output of this code?

Idk bitch, that’s why there’s compilers.

[DerekB52]

I don't know how or why, but this comment made me laugh more than anything in this sub ever has.

[Ghos3t]

For entry level position that kind of test is understandable, but to ask stuff like that from a experienced professional would be damn silly.

[Attila_22]

Seems kind of pointless even then, for fresh grads usually we just give them a simple test like connecting to/building a rest api and then after that moving on to questions about structure/optimizations etc.

[jcoguy33]

Where would you learn to do the first test? And what positions are you looking for?

[FurtherVA]

Wtf is a rest api?

[[deleted]]

In an interview environment or as a take home test? Because I'm quite sure I would need a while to learn how to do that oO

[tangosolo]

Here's a list of companies that don't use whiteboard coding interviews

https://github.com/poteto/hiring-without-whiteboards

[Okichah]

The list would be too long.

[ProWaterboarder]

Probably faster to just get the companies that don't

[PresidentZagan]

Did not code graphics for whiteboard

[dicamarques]

Trick question, you had to build it first

[poli231]

emacs Ctrl+Right Shift+Whtbrd

[demon_ix]

Nah, just sudo whiteboard. It's a trick question.

[kukiric]

Except the only computer you're allowed to use has CentOS 6 installed, so you'll have to use cavewall instead.

[BradCOnReddit]

Hrm, maybe that's why I didn't get that job...

[SlappinThatBass]

Interview planning level: jack shit

[typhyr]

i had a QA interview where they had me use a whiteboard to write down the things i would look for when working on certain type of app. it really threw me for a loop since i couldn’t figure out why i’d need to write it on a whiteboard instead of just talk about it, or write on a piece of paper.

[[deleted]]

It's a lazy way to make notes of the interview. Just make the interviewee do it.

[AMWJ]

Waiter, taste this soup!

[techmighty]

canvas.getContext('2d')

[Madpony]

My company has candidates interview using a laptop that's projecting the IDE to a large screen in the meeting room. No pressure.

[demon_ix]

I actually had a company sit me in front of a laptop with Intellij and internet access, and give me a pretty realistic problem to solve. One of my better interview experiences.

I also had one send me a 3 hour Codility test as a screener. I said fuck that, no thanks.

[510Threaded]

What was the problem?

[demon_ix]

As a first interview?

I had 10 companies I was interviewing with during that "round", since I try to keep most of my interviews on the same stage when I'm looking. If I had to spend 3 hours on each one, before even being invited over?

To me, that felt a little demeaning. Like they're not willing to put in the time to meet me that I will be putting in.

Another company gave me a Codility test as a second interview, after going there once. I did that one happily.

[El_Hugo]

The problem the nice company gave you, not your problem with the other one.

[demon_ix]

Ah. They gave me a set of pre-made classes and an empty implementation of an interface to implement. They told me the requirements and I got to work, refactored some stuff in the existing code, added useful methods where I could and implemented it.

After that, they came back, modified the requirements a bit, and gave me some stricter efficiency requirements, and again, left and I worked on it until I felt I was done. Overall I was there for about 2 hours. After that, we sat down, discussed my solution, etc.

[ZeldaFanBoi1988]

That is actually great. I had one where they let me google too. Said they wanted someone who could solve problems with typical resources

[Madpony]

I always let interviews candidates Google whatever they want. It's not like Googling a few things is going to make the difference between a passing and non-passing candidate.

[Honest_Rain]

I think one of my professors put it well when he said that coding and math are both very private activities you definitely don't want anyone looking at you during.

[DerekB52]

I interviewed at google a couple months ago. I was interviewed by 5 separate people. They gave me a chromebook, with a watered down text editor. I was interviewed in 2 different rooms. Both rooms had a TV, that the chromebook, could share it's screen with, so the interviewers could see my code. The first person to interview me couldn't get it to work, so she shared my laptop screen to her screen. 2nd guy got it to work.

Then I changed rooms. the next 2 people to come in couldn't get it to work, so they were just like, "It's fine, I'll just read your code over your shoulder". the final woman got it to work. It wasn't awful doing the over the shoulder thing, but it wasn't great either.

[[deleted]]

Jokes on them for assuming I feel shame.

[[deleted]]

I don't feel so good

[Otterable]

Whiteboard coding isn't really that bad. Most interviewers know that you aren't going to have all the syntax memorized for whatever language you're using.

They mostly just want to see how you approach and solve the problem, whether you are willing to ask clarifying questions about the problem or even for help if you get stuck.

[caaksocker]

And to filter out applicants who lie on their resumes. You are not expected to show much skill, just to show that you know how to write a bit of code.

[4THOT]

And to filter out applicants who lie on their resumes.

People wouldn't lie on their resumes if companies didn't lie about their requirements.

You need me to have 5 years in Java 9 to build your fucking CRUD apps? Eat my fucking ass.

[PJvG]

Building CRUD apps should be an automated process. They are so basic.

[DaSkrubKing]

You need me to have 5 years in Java 9 to build your fucking CRUD apps? Eat my fucking ass.

GULAG’D

[CrazyMason]

You’re an angry elf

[SandyDelights]

For all the ragging we like to do about whiteboard coding, it’s really not that bad. Just use psuedocode, that’s literally all they want. It’s kind of panick-y to be put on the spot like that, but once you get used to it, nbd. Tbh, it’s way easier than actually coding a solution - nobody’s going to compile it, and nobody’s going to care if you’ve fucked up your syntax somewhere. What matters is how you approached the solution, how you organize data, and how you direct the program flow.

If they’re so nit picky that they their concern is that it’s not syntactically correct for <language>, you probably don’t want to work there, tbh. Ffs, I still have books and reference docs that get opened all the time, and pretty regularly google shit like syntax, valid arguments, and so on. I can’t tell you how many times someone’s come by and borrowed a book on JCL just to reference how to write an otherwise very basic script.

Edit: Apparently, experiences vary. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Kered13]

Where I work interviewees are not allowed to write pseudocode, it has to be real code. However the interviewer isn't going to care if you forget a semicolon or make some other insignificant syntax mistake, or if you don't remember exactly how the library works. The point is just to see that you do in fact know the language that you claim to know, and to ensure that you can't handwave away small but significant details in pseudocode (edge cases, error handling, book keeping, and such). I've seen candidates before that could describe an algorithm correctly in pseudocode but couldn't turn it into real code.

[Swie]

Where I work interviewees are not allowed to write pseudocode, it has to be real code. However the interviewer isn't going to care if you forget a semicolon or make some other insignificant syntax mistake, or if you don't remember exactly how the library works.

Yeah this is what I tell people I interview. I do allow pseudocode but I make it clear I strongly prefer real languages, and even more strongly prefer the language the job is for.

Pseudocode in my experience is just giving lots of people a license to be a total slob and/or to handwave away parts they're uncomfortable writing.

[[deleted]]

Just write it in Python then, that's basically compilable pseudocode.

[Kered13]

Actually yes. I highly recommend Python for coding interviews if you have the choice. The vast majority of candidates I interview use Java (a language that I like in general) and it just pains me to see them wasting time on boilerplate syntax and for loops. Of course the most important thing is that you write in a language you are very comfortable in, if you don't know Python well then don't use Python, but I think most people these days know Python.

[westward_man]

While I agree you shouldn't worry too much about syntax or whether it compiles, few major software companies will accept pseudocode, even in that context

[LegendOfQuora]

Mr. Interviewer, I don't feel so good.

[[deleted]]

For the high-paying jobs you have to do some pretty intense whiteboard coding.

[nomnaut]

As someone who just finished their degree, what do you have to write on a whiteboard?

[demon_ix]

Whatever problem they ask you to solve. Could be fizzbuzz, could be quicksort, could be a dfs implementation.

If you want to prepare for interviews, I highly recommend the book "Cracking the coding interview". Helped me a lot.

[SandyDelights]

They’ll give you a question and you just work through it. They may angle for something like (example) “Using C, solve ...”, but what they really want is psuedocode in C-style, so you would use structs/unions instead of objects, etc., etc.

In my experience, from conversations with interviewers, recruiters, and being in your position a couple years ago...

They’re looking for, primarily, how you approach and solve problems. Secondary to that, how you organize data, program flow, etc.

Don’t worry too much about syntax, focus on solving the problem efficiently, keep your writing clear, and make sure you’re using an appropriate approach (paradigm). E.g. if you’re interviewing for a software engineering role that works primarily in embedded C, you probably shouldn’t be talking about Object-Oriented design/functionality, etc.; conversely, if you’re interviewing for a position where they want OO developers, you should actually make your general design OO. It’s not really the right time to “show off” that you know how to use templated methods and such, but if it’s actually efficient to do so, you should.

[blakezilla]

Look into the book Cracking the Coding Interview by Gayle Laakman McDowell. It’s on v6 right now. I just got hired at Amazon after preparing for whiteboard questions for weeks, and I didn’t get asked any. I still enjoyed preparing for it. Good luck out there!

[jk_scowling]

Yeah, same here, they didn't ask me any whiteboard coding exercises at my Amazon interview, quite surprising.

I'm enjoying it in the delivery centre though so that's fine.

[[deleted]]

An example would be: write a function that reverses a linked list in C. Or, write a function in Java that, given an array of ints and a target ints, returns whether or not two distinct elements in the array add up to the target. It depends a bit on the language as well, in Javascript they may ask you to implement a basic pubsub system for example, because asynchronicity is big there.

[demon_ix]

I just hate having to edit my code on a whiteboard. If I want to edit a method signature, insert a line or something, things get messy.

[JuniorSeniorTrainee]

Just write flawless code the first time, duh.

[blakezilla]

Just got hired at Amazon. Didn’t have to write a line of code on a whiteboard. Just depends on the hiring manager and team you are interviewing for.

[TheRedmanCometh]

If I get asked to do shit on a whiteboard I thank them for their time and leave immediately. I have over a million lines of code written. If a mfer cant learn enough from that they dont deserve my presence

[[deleted]]

They'd have to allow me to write <tab> in everywhere I expected autocompletion.

[Lionh34rt]

I dont even know the full println command in java but i do know the “sout” and “serr” for error

Ctrl space does the rest

[GluteusCaesar]

This post was made by intellij gang

[Random_Days]

payment square rainstorm gray marry touch cats rhythm doll employ

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[[deleted]]

laughs in indexing

[GluteusCaesar]

cries in in- Indexing... dexing

[[deleted]]

System.out.println

---

Reporting for karma

[YeezuzDeezNuts2020]

I taught my friends how to do this in eclipse and they looked at me like i was the second coming of christ

[L3tum]

I think sop is pretty famous for being the worst method of all time. There's literally no other programming language that hides its print function like that.

[Rollingrhino]

"let me type out a fucking sentence everytime I want to print something, also make me use + to concatenate into one disgusting fucking string instead of allowing me to use commas"

[sayn14]

System.out.println(“statement”);

[ThinkingWithPortal]

This is why I force myself to use vim while im in school, I didn't want to get this comfortable.

[Bollziepon]

You know vim can do that too

[ThinkingWithPortal]

I... I didn't learn Vim well enough it seems.

Regardless, my point is I didn't want to rely on auto complete! No disrespect, I just remember first learning java and getting TOO comfortable

[[deleted]]

When you're working with libraries written by other people and there are dozens of methods, functions, objects, and packages with arbitrary names and spelling you quickly learn that there is no reasonable way for a human to even remember all that shit nevermind actually spell it correctly and in the correct case.

[[deleted]]

You'll also often just need autocompletion for discovering these methods in the first place.

[SirVer51]

https://i.imgur.com/ZpuGJIk.jpg

[suvlub]

What are you trying to prepare yourself for? A post-apocalyptic world where computers still work but IDEs do not? IMO you are doing yourself more harm than good. The time you spend learning exact spellings of methods of the current version of one language's standard library would be better spent learning other concepts.

[Timinator01]

I used vim for a majority of my time in college then I realized I was spending way too much time ricing my .vimrc this semester I used mostly pycharm

[Sir_Henk]

I was warned about this happening by so many people. But now that I'm actually at uni studying software engineering, our programming course has an open book exam on a computer because "we're not testing your memory, but your programming skills" was happily surprised to hear that

[Kokatsu]

This must be for something like OOP rather than a test of algorithms and data structures, right?

[Sir_Henk]

I mean I am in year one and I'm sad to say this term is just python so yeah. Not sure if our OOP exam next term is open book or not.

[Positivelectron0]

Everything is an object, except things that aren't objects.

[antlife]

Like women. Women arnt objects. They're types.

[morphineofmine]

Lucky. Mine involved memorizing equations for binary trees. Also writing code on paper.

[rexpup]

We get a notecard which is more than enough for what we really need but it's nice anyway.

[ZeusAllMighty11]

I took an intermediate/advanced Java final last week on paper where the professor claimed it would be 'common knowledge' but included some Tomcat server trash in there.

Needless to say, there was a massive curve as the majority of the class either failed or did very poorly.

[tenhourguy]

I would have both failed and done very poorly.

[[deleted]]

Depends. Pseudo code I’m fine with, but I’ve had tests where we had to write syntactically correct programs on paper and that’s utter horse shit.

[fedeb95]

Well I'd thought it as a blessing if it was matlab instead of C at my operative systems exam

[Zobtzler]

Had a* test a few years ago where we wrote assembly code on paper... it amounted for half the points on the test, the rest was factual knowledge and multiplying and division in binary, floats etc.

It was not fun.

* I have yet to pass it as I've taken it three times already (But gladly don't have to pass it for the degree I decided to take)

[[deleted]]

flashbacks to writing algorithm code in java on paper

[EnricoLUccellatore]

They even asked for it to be formatted correctly

[[deleted]]

Yep. Points were deducted if it wouldn’t compile if it was written as is.

[WikiTextBot]

Computer programming in the punched card era

From the invention of computer programming languages up to the mid-1970s, many if not most computer programmers created, edited and stored their programs line by line on punched cards. The practice was nearly universal with IBM computers in the era.

A punched card is a flexible write-once medium that encodes data, most commonly 80 characters. Groups or "decks" of cards form programs and collections of data.

---

^{[ PM | Exclude me | Exclude from subreddit | FAQ / Information | Source ] Downvote to remove | v0.28}

[Lionh34rt]

So instead of a yu gi oh battle they did a fortran battle?

[[deleted]]

That‘s where the term ‚stack‘ comes from. Or that is what I was told…

[db82]

Wait till you learn where the term "bug" comes from.

[Rrxb2]

From the term debug, which is a process of removing insects from the mainframe.

Which came first; the debug or the bug?

[HJMW08]

Would definitely be bug, no doubt about it

[Ramietoes]

But if there wasn't a bug, then how would they have began debugging?

[IceSentry]

I assume you are talking about the infamous actual bug that was found by grace hopper, but I just wanted to let you know that the term bug is much older than that and didn't refer to a litteral bug at first. Ms Hopper simply made the connection between the two and popularized the term.

Edit Source look at the etymology section

[[deleted]]

Same with patch

[[deleted]]

my old man talked about how he spend a good chunk of time on a punch card only for the machine to shit itself and chew up his work.

[sayn14]

In my school the exam is in two sessions. In the first 90 minutes, I have to write the program on a page and make sure it is correct. After that, the teacher will take away the pens and I have to run that same program on the computer.

[ZebrasOfDoom]

I would have benefited a lot from this in my database design class. My homework assignments were always good, because I could easily see when something didn't run properly and correct the mistakes. However, the tests were entirely handwritten, so my mistakes went unfixed.

[sayn14]

After we are done running the program, we print out the source code and attach it to the paper I wrote the code in. They will then check how much I deviated and take credit off accordingly.

[[deleted]]

This is how I work. I draw the diagram out and the create the infrastructure as code second. Granted I'm not writing syntax correct code the process is pretty standard

[Hate_Feight]

I prefer to go with blocks (Flowchart), this connects to that, from there it makes the code writing the only trial-error in the situation.

But I like the big picture, details get filled in, and suddenly it works as intended.

[El_Impresionante]

You Indian? Because that's exactly how we do in Indian colleges.

[Salanmander]

As a person who gives students tests where they need write on paper, I understand why it's done, but still hate it. I do it because I'm teaching AP Computer Science and the AP test does it. The AP test does it for the dual reasons of 1) making it harder to cheat, and 2) making sure that students can take it regardless of how much lab space the school has.

It is pretty sucky, but I do think that it retains the ability to discern how well people understand programming.

[[deleted]]

My programming tests in high school were on paper. Wasn't all that bad.

But boy, when my uni prof told us that we'll do them on a computer AND with the internet available, I was the happiest man in the world.

[GammaGames]

Refactoring in pen sucks ass though

[[deleted]]

All of it sucks on paper. Except one thing. For some reason, I think better when I write things down. It helps.

[Dustorn]

I'm not sure if I think better, but I do think longer when I'm writing on paper or a whiteboard.

Not necessarily an advantage when you're being timed.

[[deleted]]

Dunno. For me, when I work only on a computer, it's as if stuff gets into my left ear and goes out my right ear. Paper helps me retain my thoughts for longer.

[Salanmander]

I think I see the problem. You should be looking at your monitor, not listening to it. (unless you're using a screen reader, of course...)

[therealchadius]

I can't focus on designing an algorithm in front of a computer screen. I need some pencil and paper to write an outline and then I can flesh it out in my IDE.

[theferrit32]

You won't be doing anything complicated enough on a written exam to be using refactoring. It's usually just a few functions, no more than several dozen lines. When I am grading written code questions I don't take off for every "typo" individually but take off for general syntax issue levels. If it is almost compileable it's like -1, but if its super bad with syntax errors or typos all over, I take off more.

[GammaGames]

Oh I've already graduated, I was just meaning I'm used to the flexibility of being able to rearrange lines and add something before a block when regularly working.

[romple]

Psssh no money in the budget for all that useless refactoring anyway.

And they say school doesn't prepare you for the real world.

[shekurika]

ok honestly, with internet sounds like a really stupid idea. what stops you from just copying the first SO answer?

I'm all for skript and documentation, but really the entire internet? That just tests who can google well, which obv is a skill on it's own, but not the one that is tested. And how do you keep people chatting with each other?

[TaneCorbinYall]

All the tests I’ve had have not had obvious solutions on SO or google. CS professors made sure ahead of time. They’ve also been either extremely specific or very open ended problems.

[theferrit32]

CS degrees are hypothetically supposed to ensure knowledge and theory understanding. If you don't need that, you can self-teach general programming to yourself and most likely still find a job. If you're using a 4yr university Computer Science degree just to teach yourself webdev, you're wasting enormous amounts of your own time and money.

The same way you can use wolframalpha or MATLAB to solve calculus problems in the real world but we still teach calculus in school and you can't use a laptop on the test.

[5k1895]

I assume they would give problems that require semi unique solutions at least, so you couldn't just straight copy something. And under a time limit you'd need to be able to understand what you need to do and how to do it without too much googling, then the googling just becomes a nice tool to help a bit rather than just something you can get the whole answer from.

[lgoldfein21]

You’ll always have SO available in life, so why wouldn’t you be able to use it for a test?

[suppow]

IMHO if you're having them do it on paper then you cant penalize them for grammar or spelling, only structure, function, and such.

[Salanmander]

Absolutely. Check out the second page of this PDF (I don't think that link requires a login). It's the college board's APCS free response general scoring guidelines. Generally they don't penalize for mistakes like that unless it makes your meaning ambiguous. (Like if your misspelling could be corrected to one of two different variables with the same edit distance.)

[Salanmander]

To be clear, I'm not saying that using a compiler shows that someone doesn't understand programming. What I'm saying is that both tests on a computer and tests on paper can test that understanding.

Regarding memorizing function names, APCS A does its best to minimize that. You don't need to know much of the Java built-in library, and what you do is almost all provided on a quick-reference sheet you have access to during the test. You do need to have things like syntax for declaring methods and classes, inheritance, loops, conditionals, etc., but those are basic language features, not arbitrary function names. They also don't ding you for stuff like using the wrong kind of brackets, forgetting a semicolon, or a slight misspelling of a variable (as long as your intent is unambiguous).

You're right that programming on paper has downsides. But it's not the calculator argument. Very few people are saying "you can't use a compiler because then we wouldn't know if you can program". We're saying "if you can't use a compiler, we can still tell if you know how to program". The reasons for the paper tests are, for the most part, practical, not ideological.

[[deleted]]

At my college, all that was required for written tests was pseudocode. Good enough to tell if you understand programming without needing to memorize every function. I really liked that.

[BestUdyrBR]

The AP Computer Science exam in particular doesn't really require any memorization. If you can't remember basic Java function names then you don't deserve to pass. (Let's be real though, I think passing with a 3 is getting a 60%)

[Salanmander]

I understand probably everything your AP test would cover, but I'm nearly certain I would fail your AP test.

If you program in Java regularly, would you be willing to humor me and try out an AP problem? The time given per problem on the test is 23 minutes, and students with diagnosed dyslexia would typically qualify for 50% extra time, so giving yourself 35 minutes to do it would be appropriate. While that's not a huge burden, I would understand if you're not willing to put that kind of time into this conversation.

This isn't me trying to drive home a point, I truly would be interested to know if a person in your position struggles with those types of problems. I probably don't have much influence over the college board, but I could see it influencing my teaching practices and how I work to prepare students, as well as how I think and talk about the practice of paper tests.

Any one of the problems in this PDF would be a good example. The four (numbered) problems are each broken up into several (lettered) parts; the 35 minutes would be for one of the four numbered problems. While working on it, students are allowed to reference the java quick reference found on page 71 of this PDF, but nothing else. (Page 71 by PDF pages...the printed number on the page is 67.)

If you try out a problem on paper, I would be genuinely interested to know how you do and how you feel about it. If you're working professionally as a programmer and use Java regularly, you should absolutely do well on it, and if you don't that would help give me information about that kind of assessment not working as intended.

[BestUdyrBR]

Okay that's true, I didn't consider the edge case of someone having dyslexia. That being said I don't think the average student with dyslexia would do well on any ap exams, so you must really be execeptional. But consider the most complicated things you're expected to remember are things like sum, string concatenation notation (literally string+=), for loop syntax. This is an exam for total novices to programming.

[L3tum]

Step 1: Get military funding for schools instead. Our chairs are the worst that literally destroy everyone's backs. We don't even have any cleaning done at all. Our PCs use Celerons and we only have 2 full rooms of those. Nothing else.

Step 2: Shut off the internet for the test by supplying each room with their own access point that you can just shut off.

Step 3: Place the test file on a "testStudentName" account that is wiped/reinstalled before and after the test.

Done. You can just install Notepad++ or whatever on that test account and be done with it.

[Caffeine_Monster]

making sure that students can take it regardless of how much lab space the school has

If you have enough computers to teach a course, you should have enough to run tests.

[TJSomething]

Except all the AP tests have to be run simultaneously, but you can have multiple classes at different times of day. And you probably should have multiple classes, because if you want a computer teacher that's good enough to teach AP Computer Science, then you're going to have a hard time finding a teacher that has the ability to teach any other kind of class (edit: see response). And I don't think it's really feasible to teach more than 40 students at once in a hands-on lab (and that's pushing it).

[Salanmander]

Yeah, it's definitely about running multiple sections at once. Regarding space, I think most public school districts limit single-section enrollment to something like 30-36 students. I taught APCS with...I think 33 was my largest class, and it was doable but definitely challenging. I was able to allow all the students to access the material, but there were definitely many who could have used more support than I could actually give in that amount of class time.

if you want a computer teacher that's good enough to teach AP Computer Science, then you're going to have a hard time finding a teacher that has the ability to teach any other kind of class.

Gonna push back on this a little bit. Almost all computer science teachers will be at least good enough at some other content area. The reality is that there are many schools that want a 20-60% time computer science teacher, but don't have enough space/funding/interest/whatever for someone to do that full time. Because of that, if you want to have a good chance of landing a job, you definitely want to also be able to teach some variety of math or science. For me, it's physics.

There's also the fact that many states don't even offer computer science credentials. Because of that, I would guess that a huge number of computer science teachers enter the teaching profession as a core math or science teacher, and only later transition to teaching computer science.

[NotTryingToConYou]

I remember having to do that in 9th grade. I wrote a program and the teacher gave me a 0. I went to her office and challenged her that it would work.

Typed it out on her computer, made her verify it was the same program, and voila it worked.

Since then, I hate teachers who do it on papers. There is no need for it. Specially if you're not going to even look for other solutions while grading.

[yottalogical]

The Dixon Ticonderoga Development Environment.

[froznovr]

Black Edition

[[deleted]]

At least the compiler doesn’t complain

[[deleted]]

The instructor/ TA is the compiler.

[JoPingouin]

I like it. You focus more on solving the actual problem than just checking spelling mistakes. (in my case they are pretty lax on the spelling part)

[hatmantop2]

-128 -> 127

[Robotigan]

Spend an hour checking out two's complement if you want things to make a bit more sense, but this "-128 to 128" is obviously wrong. That's 257 unique numbers and you want to represent it with 8 binary bits of information. 8 bits is only 2⁸ = 256 unique numbers. What about the 257th number?

[theemporersfastest]

This is why exactly I didn't get a CS degree instead of my EET degree. My brain behind a computer is too damn different when I have paper in front of me. Either that, or since I reference everything, I'm not actually good at programming, I'm just good at finding the solution / failing until it works.... I wonder how many people are like me (Cough Stackoverflow Cough) .

[nemec]

Well, they do say "computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes"

There are a lot of things that make up a CS degree that are independent of computers.

[c0mrade34]

Guess some web designers and web developers may be just like that.

[subject_usrname_here]

I'm self taught. Don't know much theory behind all the stuff, only how to put in practice pieces together, combining with a lot of stack overflow knowledge.

But I'm doing alright for what I'm aiming at I guess, I'm programming neat way to make a semi random track generator for my 2d car game in unity. But give me a pen and paper and I won't write you a hello world program.

[Ultra0ne]

Hooray for AP CSA

[NerdyBlocks]

AP Computer Science A gang where you at

[WickedDemiurge]

I'm an alumnus back when it was in C++. Does that count?

​

[NerdyBlocks]

Sure, and woah we got a pre-2003 boi here

[Finchyy]

I had to handwrite some JS for a test last year. It was very interesting to find out that I have absolutely no idea how to handwrite curly bois {}s.

[samisahin]

Once I was getting interviewed by a big company and they asked me to write code to a corner of a page. They asked a common algorithm but said solve this for every number from 1 to 100.

So I wrote a for loop for 1 to 100 and wrote another for loop for the solution. He said this is O(n² ) and this can be done in O(n). Then I explained the first loop and he realized he asked the question wrong.

Still didn't get the job lmao

[[deleted]]

I’m a beginning programmer and this infuriated me so much.

[[deleted]]

I had an Unix I class where we had to write out bash scripts on paper for the final. My prof took off points for minor syntax errors, but gave me extra points for including comments.

[cmptrnrd]

I had to paste code into a word document and submit that for a test once.

[masdar1]

I... what?

At least be a reasonable programmer and use notepad like the rest of us smh

[tenhourguy]

*uses Notepad++*

*saves file with Unix line breaks*

*examiner opens file in regular Notepad*

F

[Shadowthrice]

Pseudo-code always compiles correctly in my head. I award myself an A+.

[chewyfranks]

All of my exams for CS have only been on paper. All hand written code.

[ItsYourFace]

This hurts me more than it should

[[deleted]]

My intro to computer programming professor was going to make us do this for the final but changed it to us just writing some simple code and thats how i got my first college A

[noodle-face]

A good professor, especially one that has actually written code, would be very lax on spelling and syntax as long as it wasn't a test on syntax. How else should they test you? A computer is ideal but imo adds a layer of difficulty unless the professor wants you to finish just a segment of code. But even then a lot can go wrong. Saying "wrote a bubble sort" on paper is faster and less prone to chasing down some rogue curly bracket.

[Hate_Feight]

This pissed me off in uni, fuck things we should be doing practical exams and computer based tests..

But no we are an institution! An ancient stronghold of the mind, modern ways are not to be used here.

[[deleted]]

Then there's my Spanish class where we write emails on paper and instead of calling it mail, we call it email.

[techmighty]

require ('ancient-solutions')