This Space for Rent

On sorting

I've been working with computers for about 30 years(!) now, and there's one thing that always strikes me as a bit odd about the computer world. No matter what job you're looking for, you will invariably be interviewed by at least one person who has got sorting on their mind.

It's very odd, particularly when you're one of the people on the interviewer side of the table and one of your fellow cow orkers starts quizzing the prospective PFY about sort times. You can almost read the but I thought this was a systems admin job??? thought sweep across their face as they're asked how to sort something, and as they wrestle with the temptation to pull their concealed copy of Sorting and Searching, then do the computer science version of going postal (admittedly, being Knuthed to death isn't likely to make the 6pm news, but it's still a grim horrible way to go.)

If there's anything that's been documented into oblivion in the computer world, sorting is it. I'm surprised that "RTFM!" isn't the universal response to the "blah blah blah sort?" question; I know that I'd recommend hiring anyone who had the nerve to say that instead of simply trying to remember years-old computer science questions.