I'm not sure how I feel about the sort question being a super simple "fizzbuzz" type command line question in an interview. The problem with some of the CLI stuff is that its really a simple yes/no "do you remember that command name" type thing. For something like grep that makes sense. But as somebody who also lives in the terminal, I have mixed feelings about expecting things like wc, sort, xargs, etc out of a potential candidate.
Although, I do actually totally agree that the more a person knows about the CLI in general, the better they sometimes appear to be. I feel like learning to use command line tools also sort of inspires that general DRY attitude about software in general. Don't reinvent the wheel!
(I probably agree with you more than I disagree, and I'd rate "can read a man page" more important than "remembers -n for sort", I just thought the particular objection somewhat humorous)
Exactly my point, as I said before I have never rejected candidates based on whether they can answer the question, but it does add a point for those who can.
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I'm not sure how I feel about the sort question being a super simple "fizzbuzz" type command line question in an interview. The problem with some of the CLI stuff is that its really a simple yes/no "do you remember that command name" type thing. For something like grep that makes sense. But as somebody who also lives in the terminal, I have mixed feelings about expecting things like wc, sort, xargs, etc out of a potential candidate.
Although, I do actually totally agree that the more a person knows about the CLI in general, the better they sometimes appear to be. I feel like learning to use command line tools also sort of inspires that general DRY attitude about software in general. Don't reinvent the wheel!
Yeah, "sort" is a super esoteric name...
(I probably agree with you more than I disagree, and I'd rate "can read a man page" more important than "remembers -n for sort", I just thought the particular objection somewhat humorous)
Exactly my point, as I said before I have never rejected candidates based on whether they can answer the question, but it does add a point for those who can.