No. More. Writing. Code. On. A. Fucking. Piece. Of. Paper.

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Also, people who score better in paper-based "coding" tests but cannot actually code for their lives.

But.. but.. i have coded a whole galaga-like game on turbo c on bunch of yellowpaper.. no google, no syntax error just pure imagination/own logic.. since i came from a poor family with no immediate access to a computer, that was my way of improving my skills,

@jinryu That's great for you, but the rant is about writing code on paper during interviews.

@julianmd now that i'm in a management level, imo, i like our applicants to code even a basic data structure question on a piece of paper, it helps me evaluate their skills in terms of familiarity with the language and how much they know about logic unless theyre applying as a web designer ,of course ill let them code in pc.. i really dont see the problem with the paper :D

@julianmd what gives you the impression the rant it's about interviews? The weekly tag is about CS "education"

I think writing code on paper is good for you during your first 1 or 2 intro coding classes. Knowing how to write pseudo code for algorithms class is good too imo.

Well, in one of my interview, at the end, the interviewer give me a peace of paper for write a fibonacci series in java code.
It's block me immediately

There is a time and place for handwriting code.

Pseudo-code should be handwritten so you can better fight the urge to just start coding a project. You should also be able to hand write basic algorithms and structure, but I don't think your goal should be perfect syntax.

It's good not to rely too heavily on the tools we have available, like IDEs, but let's not pretend we won't have those tools when we are programming.

If you're studying CS theory at a graduate level, maube.

Pseudo code, no intellisense, good to practice how to follow logic and see how you solve a problem.
Still now, we use paper and pencil to explain logic and architecture, not very different than pseudo code. I won't change this.

Tell this to the minister of education. For God sake I have to write useless code which in the real life I wouldn't have to because of google/compiler/ide. And learn JSP. Which is basically dead. Yeah.

Okay. I immediately tried to see if I could code Fibonacci in python on paper. And I admit, even I couldn't get a working implementation on paper, without consulting the terminal. :P

However!! I did get an abstract idea of how it should work down on paper! (Drawing something, arrows and all that shit.)

It was just a matter of piecing together some small solutions first, and see if those work, and then finally getting to the bigger solution.

Paper is not a good way to go. It doesn't properly encapsulate a person's knowledge. I understand the language, I got a working implementation down in 4 minutes. The only thing that was holding me back was the inability to quickly test small parts of my idea.

I firmly believe that if someone wants me to write code down on paper, I'm going to say, "Let me show you an abstract implementation of how a probable solution should work, from there I can design some working code"

Beautiful clean paper.

I know how you feel bro. I wrote networks code on a paper in lab assessment

You should be able to see that (your own) code is working without compiling or running the code.

Oh yes! Great idea! Let’s never make them code on a paper. But then... let’s ask them in all interviews to code on a whiteboard! They will suck at it and we’ll make them feel miserable! Hooray!

Yea, because writing code out on paper is much more important than being able to talk out your logic with others and hash together a working implementation, right?

Why not ask them to detail a plan of attack rather than providing some code in an unrealistic way?

@doombuddha know about the “google effect”? Knowing that you can search it makes you less likely to remember stuff. So I’d say there’s the “IDE effect”. If you don’t code in the IDE you don’t know to code. It has a value. But again, playing the devil’s advocate.

@drwhy I've not actually heard of it but I can imagine after seeing some of my other classmates. However, I remember learning to code from documentation without internet, so my perception is probably a bit skewed.

- Prof: Is there a comma missing there?
- Me: but... but... It's in kotlin (swift, etc)...
- Prof: (never listened) well that's a compilation error no?
- Me: *sigh*

@darkmiko au contraire, during my uni day, i pass with flying colors in paper programming exams and now i had a successful job in software engineering and development in MNC corporation

@phendark yeah, but you probably can actually code, right?

Damn. Someone beat me to being the 500th.

Amen

Due to the lack of a mobile IDE, I have to write snippets of code on notebooks, napkins, sometimes even my arms. It's a relaxing activity since you're revising your code and style

Haha, I had to write a whole queue and stack implementation on paper for my last year of school/boards/senior secondary final exam.

IMO, pseudocode on paper is valuable. Programming is problem solving using computing as a medium, so you should be able to flesh out some logic on a piece of paper.

Outside of that, it feels pretty useless to expect someone to write syntactically correct code on paper.

I feel u :(

ure UX/UI or am i missing something?
bc paper is the extension of your memory...