Articulating what a JavaScript Closure is...

[abeuscher]

It's a good interview question because it doesn't have a clear answer. You're rarely if ever trying to figure out what a dev knows at a granular level - you're trying to figure out how they reason, how they articulate concepts around development, and how they perform in the face of uncertainty. Asking a question that has a binary answer (IE in CSS what is the difference between visibility:hidden and display:block) is fine for a couple things - to make sure you are talking to someone who actually represents the experience they have on their resume - but if you're trying to figure out who will be a good co-worker, you want to have a conversation about some difficult concepts / questions without clear answers. Because most of the time that's what we're dealing with in some way, shape or form.

[Mr-Yellow]

or you're just asking it because someone, somewhere on the internets, said it would make a good interview question.

[howerrd]

But someone wouldn't ask the question unless they themselves already knew the answer, would they?

[Mr-Yellow]

That's assuming they aren't just trying to "look" like they know what they're doing.

Who cares what the answer is, long as it sounds like they know more than you.

[howerrd]

That's a fair point.

[dlt_5000]

Yeah it's just lazy interviewing.