I understand that in our fast-paced industry, the expectation is that we have to jump right into the programming by running a “hello world” demo. Writing down or drawing out what you want to output is one of the best ways to start your coding. That’s why it’s imperative to know the question well because you’ll see the result. We are already told what our results are - we have to figure out how to reach them. They get a set of parameters and find the missing ones our questions are also our results. The questions we work with are not like the questions physicists or mathematicians solve. I’ve seen otherwise brilliant developers get something wrong simply because they never fully grasp what it is they are solving. That’s how I found my feet on the ground to start answering their question. I first drew an inverted triangle made of asterisks. I took a deep breath, pressed my palm against the blank sheet of paper they had laid out for me, slid it as slow as possible towards me on the table (buying time, of course), clicked the pen, and then I did something right. As I said, it was easy - nothing a for loop can’t handle, right? But like I said, my anxiety was through the roof as well. The first thing the interviewers asked about programming was if I could output an inverted triangle made of asterisks. But having never attended one before, I was anxious beyond reason. When I look back now, the interview was pretty easy. As a result, my very first job interview was quite literal with high stakes. Know your questionĭuring my final year in college, I couldn’t do an internship or even attend campus interviews because of health reasons. Let’s see where we can start when it comes to handwriting code. That said, getting the correct syntax and semantics is always a plus point, though not the sole focus of the whole handwriting exercise. The same can be true of code, mainly when working out syntax and semantics. The toil of trying to figure out how to affect surrounding items with one click (from my last article) A low-fidelity medium encourages quick experimentation and inexpensive mistakes. There’s s desire to “get in the browser” as soon as possible in design, but there is conventional wisdom in sketching designs by hand. The purpose of handwriting code is to work through logic in advance. If producing perfect code was the goal, you would be seated in front of a computer in the interview rooms and exam halls. It’s not like you can drop that into a code editor and compile it without an error. Why write it down?īefore we start, it’s essential to understand that no one expects you to jot down production-ready code in a notebook. So consider this to be also like a generic coding guideline that works specifically for me but can also be very useful to you in your work. So whether you’re an exam student, potential job interviewee, or someone wanting to resolve their programming dead ends, I hope this article helps you out when you put your pen to the paper to code.Īlthough I will focus on the analog aspect of writing code, you can apply these steps to coding in any form or language. If you’re unsure, think about the last job interview you did, and remember how there was no computer around in the interview room - just your interviewers, a blank sheet of paper, and a blue ball-point pen.įor the students among you, it’s even a bigger deal as your grades hang in by the lines of code you had strategically squeezed into the available space in your answer sheet.Īnd not just that, experienced programmers can point you to the bundle of A4 sheets they had removed from the office copy machine to scribble down a particularly complex algorithm they had been working on. If the thought of handwriting code seems silly, it might surprise you to know that it’s inevitable.
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