Algorithmic interviews like that test your capacity for bullshit. They're like "I know I'm testing you on irrelevant bullshit, but I want to see you succumb to my unreasonable demands to have studied trie-based search, because that means you are more likely to swallow any other bullshit I'll throw at you on the job".
Algorithmic interviews like that test your capacity for bullshit. They're like "I know I'm testing you on irrelevant bullshit, but I want to see you succumb to my unreasonable demands to have studied trie-based search, because that means you are more likely to swallow any other bullshit I'll throw at you on the job".