I find it amusing that each time an interviewing technique post is made to HN, invariably a post by someone claiming they work for Google is made, always disparaging the manholes problem (I've never even heard of this being posed in the real world) and tossing out some algorithm problem as a throwaway. The best part is the torrent of solutions that inevitably follow, in every popular language regardless of whether their solution has already been presented in another language.
It's almost like Google has some sort of informal process for throwing away old interview questions this way, just for laughs...
This also makes me think I may spend too much time lurking on HN.
Sometimes I wonder if all the posters are people who are just going through the same patterns of behaviors like discussion memes. And then I wonder what if the majority of comments are bots programmed to social network and collect karma/reputation points for SEO and future YCombinator funding?
It's almost like Google has some sort of informal process for throwing away old interview questions this way, just for laughs...
This also makes me think I may spend too much time lurking on HN.