FizzBuzz: One Simple Interview Question

There are a lot of opinions on how to hire coders, and most of them are terrible. The opinions, that is, not the coders. But a basic filter test to make sure someone can do what they say they can: that seems reasonable, and FizzBuzz is one of the more common tests. Even now, interviewers use it. Let's talk about why it's tricky, and how to solve it.
Imran's blog post: imranontech.com/2007/01/24/us...
Other approaches for pretty much every language: rosettacode.org/wiki/FizzBuzz
Thanks to the Cambridge Centre for Computing History: www.computinghistory.org.uk/
The thing behind me is their Megaprocessor: • The MegaProcessor
And thanks to my proofreading team!
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[@michaelgray9112]

I'm a bit late but I'll post my Python solution:
import fizzbuzz

[@Trekeyus]

I like the way you think

[@waynezor]

import fizzbuzz
fizzy = fizzbuzz.Fizzbuzz()
fizz = fizzy. fizzbuzz(start=1, stop=11)
print(fizz)
1, 2, fizz, 4, buzz, fizz, 7, 8, fizz, buzz, 11
easy :-)

[@Kamel419]

lmao painfully accurate

[@videopsybeam7220]

I kept looking for that "Read More" button and never found it.

[@razordu30]

FYI - I've chuckled at this joke every so often for at least a year.

[@jamesthompson2065]

"Repeating yourself like this is a sign of dodgy code."
This is a personal and unwarranted attack on my way of life sir.

[@jamesfoo8999]

"Repeating yourself like this is a sign of dodgy code."
This is a personal and unwarranted attack on my way of life sir.

[@ejgoldlust]

@@jamesfoo8999 "Repeating yourself is a si

[@nbee4981]

@@ejgoldlust @UC1OdUjZdTpo85Umes5LMVkg^^^^^^^ What they said.
Hey, repeating what someone else did is just efficient.

[@yeshesdevi]

A little DRY humor?
(OK, I'll be quiet now.)

[@MoMoneyMoritz]

never before have i so been so deeply offended by something is entirely agree with XD

[@Jams848484]

"I'll leave fixing that as a problem for someone else"
Yep Tom is definitely a programmer.

[@aurelia8028]

Or a proffessor at a university...: "The verification of this proof is left up to the reader"

[@KF-zb6gi]

@@aurelia8028 🤣🤣🤣👍🏻

[@Hdbdbdby]

@@aurelia8028 trivial

[@deathZor42]

Not really a JavaScript programmer at all but to save on if statements:
for (var i = 1; i < 100;i++)
{
var output = "";
var division_test = {3: "Fizz", 5: "Buzz"};
for(var key in division_test){ if (i % key == 0) output += division_test[key]; }
if (output == ""){ output = i; }
console.log(output);
}
it's relatively trivial to fix, there is likely a more elegant solution for the whole problem, but meh it works and solves the repeating code problem.

[@lucusekali5767]

@@deathZor42 nice

[@78-h]

"whoever comes along to maintain your code once you're done with it"
AKA: future you in 6 months

[@zainmushtaq4347]

"When I wrote this code, only God and I understood what it did."
"Now... only God knows."

[@Chicken.]

@@zainmushtaq4347 That's me after I come back to an old project.

[@drsch]

That scene from LOTR comes to mind in Moria, "I have no memory of this place...."

[@vitus4514]

"What moron wrote this??" -> sees it's you on git blame -> "Oh.."

[@zenpharaohs]

It sound extravagant to write code that defends against a determined opponent who knows everything about your code and how best to conceal errors from you; until you realize that opponent is you six months ago....

[@Enke796]

6:32 "But I'll leave fixing that is a problem for someone else."
This guy codes.

[@DanCojocaru2000]

This guy does too many things. :3

[@Markyroson]

Enke796 😂

[@jamess1787]

Dan Cojocaru you should see what he can do with Matt.

[@minecraftminertime]

as*

[@VirtuelleWeltenMitKhan]

Yeah. Someone else is future him in most of the cases.
Greetings

[@ashleygchannel]

I watched this video a day before my interview... This question came up... I got the job. Felt like I cheated 😂

[@anneaunyme]

The quickest way to code something is often to look up on the Internet if someone already did it. You managed to have already done that before you were asked the problem, so really you are more than qualified for the job.

[@VolkanKorki]

Anne Aunyme Papa Bless CZcams recommendations... (for today)

[@JonasHamill]

I saw this video a couple weeks after my interview, this questions came up.. I didn't get the job. Wish I'd cheated

[@timchanux]

In real life everybody looks up stack-overflow anyways

[@roguishpaladin]

So, has your ability for code prognostication extended into the tasks you've been asked to do? There's a huge market for people who know what to look up on Stack Overflow before they're even given a task.

[@dotanoob466]

Code is read way more often than it’s written. And it’s often read by people other than the original writer of said code. Which is one reason why writing clean code is so important.

[@NmaeUnavailablesigh]

And it's often read by the original writer long after they've forgotten about how they wrote it

[@azuralmusic]

Yep, I think the person who wrote the code reads it more times than anyone else, at least in my industry.

[@kacpero02]

If your code doesn't look like deranged notes of a schizophrenic cultist can you even call yourself a programmer

[@eTiMaGo]

Yep, I'd rather write code spread over a few lines, with each one doing a clear function, than doing some fancy operation all in one line then trying to figure it out 3 months later :D

[@tomsterbg8130]

@@azuralmusic Messy code takes your mind away in the matter of hours. You write something, you write something else, come back, AAAAH WHAT IN THE WORLD WHO WROTE THAT (me)

[@markreynolds5384]

The use of “i” as the index for loops is historical. In the 1960s and 1970s Fortran was the dominate programming language. It is the precursor of most languages today. Fortran used variables that started with i,j,k,l,m and n as default integer variables. Programmers got into the habit of using these single letter variables as simple integer variables in loops so they did not have to go back and add them to their integer declarations. Over time this became so widely used that everyone started assuming that if they saw these single character variables then they were index variables in loops. That coding habit moved with the programmer as they moved to new languages.

[@jackismname]

This itself comes from mathematics, where sums over numbers is done with regards to the INDEX number, hence i.

[@eTiMaGo]

@@jackismname That's how I learned it as well, and x,y,z are just brought over from mathematics. "foo" and "bar" are fascinating, though :D

[@julianbrown1331]

@@jackismname The origins go back to Arabic algebra (as opposed to Greek), i has nothing to do with index, at least not in the way you're thinking

[@jackismname]

@@julianbrown1331 Got it, I realize I made a big/ erroneous assumption here!

[@saccerzd]

I always assumed - probably incorrectly - that i meant integer.

[@MrTrees]

Interviewer: “write this code for us”
Me, a professional software developer: *googles the code because someone out there has already done it in a better way than you ever will*

[@fieldmarshal7298]

Work smart; not hard.

[@yugimumoto1]

@@WinterSnowism very true. Don't copy paste deep learning AI code and then expect people to just not talk to you about it.

[@jamesmurphy7193]

I recommend you avoid the field of quantum computing then

[@Puerco-Potter]

Most of the time I can write a solution as good as that, but would take me hours of fine tuning. Or I can read one solution online, say "that makes sense to me" and go on with my life. I copy the solution, not the code itself, even if I copy the code.

[@teemuleppa3347]

@@fieldmarshal7298 i dont think you understand the word "smart"...

[@Am-Not-Jarvis]

"I'll leave fixing that as a problem for someone else"
This proof is left as an exercise for the reader

[@0colorad0]

Using a hash/dictionary/js object/map/whatever it might be called
```
(1..100).each do |number|
options = { 3 => "Fizz", 5 => "Buzz", 7 => "Whatever" }
output = " "
options.each do |factor, word|
output += word if number % factor == 0
end
output = number if output == " "
puts output
end
```

[@victoriencornet5714]

​@@0colorad0 Here, I guess the answer to "I'll leave fixing that problem to someone else" is:
function replace(double number, double divisor, String replacer){
if (number%divisor=0) return replacer;
return "";
}
function fizzbuzz(int end){
for (i in 1 to end){
String output=replace(i,3,"Fizz");
output+=replace(i,5,"Buzz);
if (output=="") output=i;
print(output)
}
}

[@ananttiwari1337]

@@0colorad0 what is that programming language? Ada? C?

[@deleteduser84]

@@ananttiwari1337 looks like ruby

[@integralboi2900]

Math textbooks in a nutshell.

[@ciknay547]

It's funny how programmers have different priorities in terms of what they see is important. You saw it more important to avoid repeating the magic number 5, however my immediate thought was to avoid adding string concatenation, as in most languages you've increased your memory overhead.

[@Ben--Nay]

especially considering that you can use a logger that just wont go to the line except if told to.

[@sploofmcsterra4786]

Also what if the interviewer asked them to change it so it said "Pop" on multiples of both? Then you're back to that repeat.

[@Miscio94]

@@sploofmcsterra4786 Can't you add an exception that if the print is "FizzBuzz" change it to whatever or something?

[@milkflys]

@@Miscio94 sure, but then you're running the same tests again on the output, which was the original problem with the if else statements

[@doomse150]

@@sploofmcsterra4786 I'd say that diverges far enough from the initial assigment that it can require redoing the code. Since combining words on multiples of more than one "key number" is an integral part of the game

[@danielsummers1973]

From what I've heard anecdotally, the "otherwise, print the number" is the part that new programmers often leave out. The problem isn't presented in as nearly much detail as it is in the video, and the developers get so caught up in the Fizz/Buzz/FizzBuzz thing that they forget the last part. It's not only a programming question, it's an "attention to detail" question.

[@thepalelady]

That's scarily accurate considering I did the entire problem and forgot about printing the leftover numbers

[@xyyx1001]

I'd blame the interviewer for not giving me clear requirements and ask if they are in charge of hiring BAs?

[@michaelforis2713]

That's a very interesting anecdote. I'm the kind of person that enjoys interviewing for a job and I'm always a tiny bit excited when I come across challenges like that
Thanks for the insight!

[@michaeltan7625]

I don’t get it. It’d be obvious you did things wrong when you just see fizz and buzz on screen. The interviewer would be a real jerk if they don’t let me compile and debug (which is a huge part of programming), and then blame me for making that type of mistake

[@michaelforis2713]

@@michaeltan7625 Are interviewers meant to accommodate?
No.

[@Conycon]

I made this in the only language I know, Scratch.

[@CookieTheSmolFox]

True legends code only in scratch ✌️

[@indigoziona]

I was wondering if there's a good way to do it on the Micro:bit :)

[@KingKamal47]

Tynker all the way

[@Pyranders]

I learned python so that I could code my own macros.

[@bragapedro]

Y'all using scratch? Noobs. Real legends know that logic gates are the master coding system

[@willjones8849]

I do
Print: (“1,2,fizz,4,buzz,fizz,7,8,fizz...buzz)

[@HandledToaster2]

But what if you want 1000?

[@saldor0108]

@@HandledToaster2 must.. copy.. and paste.. HARDER!

[@GameCyborgCh]

Interviewer: "no do it for 1 to 10 million

[@commenturthegreat2915]

@@GameCyborgCh THIS IS GOING TO TAKE SOME MORE COFFEEEEEE

[@gameriffy2458]

now instead of 5 and 3... make it 12 and 10 :)
i think coffee wont be enough anymore

[@moonlifeSW]

I used fizz buzz to hire my test engineers. One time I interviewed a dozen engineers only 2 passed. Some that failed had degrees from Stanford, Yale etc.

[@MrJuzzi3]

Do you mean failed as programmed it the not optimal way or did not manage to even give a working solution?

[@moonlifeSW]

@@MrJuzzi3 I mean failed to give a working solution at all.
Interestingly one candidate from UCSD solved it in like one minute. It just demonstrates to me that programming is about problem solving and having only knowledge won't get you very far.

[@MrJuzzi3]

@@moonlifeSW Wow, that is surprising, well this does give me some confidence in my own skillset!

[@spitalhelles3380]

dodgelord me:
"put all numbers in a list, then change every third entry to Fizz, every fifth entry to Buzz, every fiteenth entry to Fizzbuzz, output the list"

[@Nagol93]

Id just generate a list from 1 to 100 and replace random numbers with "Fizz", "Buzz", or "Fizzbuzz" and tell them to run it until its correct :D

[@spitalhelles3380]

@@Nagol93 how does your program know when that is?

[@Nagol93]

@@spitalhelles3380 Thats the user's job

[@sebgamingkid]

that actually isn't _too_ bad of a solution

[@eamonearl6935]

@@sebgamingkid i guess it’s kind of dependent on what the OS is optimized for but i feel like usually writing to arrays is a significant bit slower than integer division

[@5Zacc]

“Have a go at making fizzbuzz yourself”
Me

[@1414fritz]

const numbersToReplace = [ [3,'Fizz'], [5,'Buzz'] ]
for(i=1;i !(i % replacement[0]))
console.log( r.length ? r.map(result => result[1]).join('') : i )
}

[@MrOod67]

@@1414fritz you have misunderstood the problem. It's multiples of 3&5 (so 6,9 etc) not simply replacing 3 or 5

[@existence.5806]

@@1414fritz tf is this 😵

[@ivanomatrisciano3828]

@@1414fritz you need an exorcism

[@-.---.-.-.-]

@@MrOod67 you have misunderstood his code, that is what it does, just not in a very clean way.

[@dragmire3D]

I remember trying to make a tic-tac-toe game in the 'Introduction to Programming' class in high school.
It ended up as something like 88 pages of if/else statements.
I was just happy it worked...

[@FinnishArmy]

dragmire3D I had to code a shift-tac-toe instead of tic-tac-toe. Try doing that with if/else statements...

[@masoodjalal1152]

We got a project to make a simple atm machine as a freshman and I made it in around 600 lines of code. It did work then, but now I don't even understand what the hell I did and how tf it worked. Later when I got some good understanding of the language(C++), I decided to do it again and this time it took about 200lines of code to do it. and most of the lines were just empty lines with braces to keep a clean readable code.

[@ignaciosavi7739]

I wanna see that code

[@anushakabber2709]

I am a freshman and I'm basically at the stage you guys are describing. I bodged my way through converting simple C code to python in around 700 lines of code and it hardly works 😓 we were asked to write it in C.

[@nerze3157]

@@anushakabber2709 C as a freshman ? Your teacher is a sadist, or do you mean C++ ?

[@Minimax04]

Tom: ‘Don’t leave things in such a mess for someone else.’
Also Tom: I’ll leave that for someone else to fix’
Tom absolutely nailing your everyday dev, there.

[@ianrasmussen5380]

"If you want, pause the video now and have a go at it"
Me: "Good idea, let's write it in C, it's been a while."
Me 5 hours later: "Alright I finally got a C compiler installed on Windows. What was I doing again?"

[@ianrasmussen5380]

@@inigo8740 I cannot consider an OS with a kernel created by the person who thought git had a sensible user interface.
And really the issue was trying to get clang to work. Basic GCC I got to install with mingw super easy. Windows feels very much not a priority for the clang project

[@JonatasAdoM]

@@inigo8740 From my point of view Windows is the dark side!

[@kg4wwn]

@@inigo8740 I'm running Gentoo, so it was kinda important for the compiler to already be installed.

[@geezgus]

sudo apt install build-essentials :)

[@the.parks.of.no.return]

You could probably just use arduino C

[@Dumdumshum]

Bodging like that in techie environs is called spaghetti code. It can sometimes be useful to prevent your company deciding you're redundant if you're the only one who can easily figure out what you've done.

[@DrPumpkinz]

​@Shreyash Adappanavar If you're the only person who knows what your code says, if your company wants to fire you, whoever they get to replace you will have to figure out your garbled mess.

[@nagitokomaeda3237]

Spaghetti code can easily be avoided by rewriting it and using comments.

[@DrinkCoffeeRun]

I swear the whole "I'm the only one who can read this" doesn't ever work out. Most companies will just hire a contractor to rewrite your code, but with comments. Companies don't care about you or your code, they just want the end product to work.

[@stevenhart6788]

I was working in a relatively new position at a company and their database was total crap so I built them a new on and transferred all the data over.
I'm kind of worried about what it looks like now since it's been 3 years since I left and I think I was the only one in my office who knew how to design a database in Access.

[@RWBHere]

@@stevenhart6788 I did something similar with a recurring seasonal job. Their detailed data on over 12,000 people was in one humongous, messy spreadsheet, which was almost impossible to search or query quickly, and full of repeats and errors, whereas my replacement database was a fraction of the size and fully relational. It looked almost identical to the old spreadsheet to users, but was far quicker, more intuitive, and above all, more reliable.
Every time I returned, after 5 months' absence, someone in the IT Department had reverted it back to a huge, messy spreadsheet which I had to sort out before I could do my job. This went on for several years, after which I discovered that the problem was that nobody in IT really understood the advantages of databases. I expressed my incredulity in clear and succinct terms, then left them to their own devices.
Turns out that after 6 or 7 months, their 'improved' spreadsheet had been deleting data during each save, until, finally, someone noticed that there was something wrong. They lost almost half of their data, because a mistake in their spreadsheet, which I had pointed out at the beginning, had been re-introduced. It cost them a lot of money. Only then did they decide that a database would be better than a spreadsheet.
In fairness, they did apologise to me when I was doing an unrelated job for them, several years later.
Sometimes you cannot teach people; they have to learn for themselves, and, all too often, they learn things the hard way.

[@MsAnonymousFangirl]

So I know it's been 3 years and you'll probably never see this, but I just wanted you to know that this video inspired me to start coding again. I'm a very, very beginner programmer. I learned a tiny bit of JavaScript from Khan Academy a few years ago. I saw this video and went "HEY, WAIT! I could do that!" and then I paused the video and I went to Khan academy's program editor. Albeit using the println command because I can't use console.log there, I wrote your second actually successful program (the one with the else statements), exactly, line for line. And of course, as you said, it was still dodgy, but coming back to the video and seeing it listed as the slightly better solution than the worst one was invigorating. I wrote this! I made it work! and I didn't do it in the worst way either! Then, immediately, you gave me steps and strategies to improve, so now I'm inspired to continue. Thank you for making this video!

[@raptora60]

Just Monika.

[@flockenlp1]

Thats the beauty of coding, when you figure something out and it works. That's why I do it too.

[@uzidayo]

Nice

[@juanma9868]

So? How are you doing 3 months later?

[@--.._]

Monika, are you scheming something?

[@jordnisse]

Programmers use "i" instead of other letters simply for the fact that "i" corresponds to ASCII Hex 69, nice

[@Palewhitegamer]

Not... Integer?

[@TrenteR_TR]

@@Palewhitegamer Actually because in the earliest programming languages it was called an iterator. Short i

[@Palewhitegamer]

@@TrenteR_TR this makes _way_ more sense than 'hex 69'... Thank you!

[@JuampyRabino]

Usually in mathematics you use i as the index in an addition

[@thesapphiredragon8568]

I've always thought it was short for "index"

[@lilellia]

A Python solution that's arguably too short for clarity.
rules = {3: 'Fizz', 5: 'Buzz'}
for i in range(1, 101):
output = ''.join(repl for val, repl in rules.items() if i % val == 0)
print(output or i)

[@oundhakar]

It took me a good 15 minutes to read and understand that.

[@vikumwijekoon3166]

That's a good one.

[@Rgriffproductions]

@tr3v0r Line 1: Dictionary containing the word for each multiple
Line 2: Start of for loop
Line 3: Uses a set comprehension to create a tuple that contains whichever part evaluated as true. For any i in the iteration it will check if i%val == 0 is true for either val = 3 or val = 5 (the two keys in the dictionary), and if so it will put the corresponding 'Fizz' or 'Buzz' in the set. From there whatever is in the set (could be either 'Fizz', 'Buzz', both, or nothing) is joined with the empty string that was initialized right before the .join
Line 4: If the string created in line 3 is an empty string that evaluates to false so it will output the number i, otherwise it will output whatever output string was created in the previous line

[@WDCallahan]

@@Rgriffproductions You took the time. You are commendable, friend.

[@kacperroszczak6127]

good one bro

[@ChevronTango]

I was always taught to code as if the person who had to maintain it after you was a bloodthirsty axe-wielding murder who knew where you lived.

[@BrightBlueJim]

Or an older you, but in my case I guess that's the same thing.

[@acgandhi]

ChevronTango They probably are.

[@xFuaZe]

They will become so

[@Firem1nded]

It's funny, they often are.

[@infectedp9419]

It's "murderer".

[@sourcererseven3858]

Remember: The poor sod coming along in a couple years to modify that code might. be. you!

[@daveh7720]

It's true. I've had to go back and change my code just a few months later and I sit there, scratching my head and wondering, "what was I thinking?"

[@tsuchan]

If you want an easy life, always work on new projects.

[@minhamsoo]

I've had this nightmare of an experience as the poor sod fixing bugs in 10,000 lines of repetitive code. And not just one source code, but multiple 10,000-lines of repetitive sources. A simple bug fix would take days to accomplish because the variables were scattered absolutely everywhere, in multiple huge files. Ended up just refactoring everything as I went along. Eventually having to take just 5 minutes to fix a bug with the newly refactored code because the fix would require me to just change ONE thing instead of HUNDREDS.

[@brendanpospischil3871]

Well you will probably have to modify others code, so show some courtesy and do what you expect of others.

[@RedwoodGeorge]

There are those rare times when I come across a piece of five year old code and think "Past me was a genius!" Not all the time, mind you, but I like it when I used to be smart...

[@torthejackal8579]

I'm taking an AP computer science course, and I was so proud of my self when I went and coded a working program that played fizzbuzz before you said how to.

[@puntherline]

When I watched this video about 2 years ago I couldn't understand any of the code shown in the video.
I just happened to remember it while coding in my spare time and though I'll give it a shot now. Paused the video at 1:11 and got to work in Lua. Once I finished, I kept watching and found out that my code is essentially the same as what Tom has shown at 6:05.
And after 6:35, leaving the problem to fix for someone else, it barely took me a minute to actually fix it. I can't tell you how good it feels to finally have a comparison between my old knowledge and my current knowledge.

[@carb0nxl]

Thank you for captioning your videos!
-a Deaf subscriber

[@mapelaanjakoodaansuomeksi3432]

🤜👊✌️🖖🤜🤘👍🖖👍👉🤜🤘👍✍️🤚👎🖖👋✊👌☝️

[@kipchickensout]

really?

[@mapelaanjakoodaansuomeksi3432]

@@kipchickensout r/woooosh

[@kipchickensout]

@@mapelaanjakoodaansuomeksi3432 r\woosh

[@mapelaanjakoodaansuomeksi3432]

@@kipchickensout do you even know what that means

[@dongzhuhuang6972]

Easy, just hard code every number & fizz buzz

[@user-mx4ok5me5x]

Dong Huang now do it for 1-1million

[@MrLife4sin]

Duh! Obviously!

[@Mikehikegaming]

Dong Huang i hope you are joking

[@satibel]

@Exter It's easy, make a program that writes each line of code for you.

[@Gamez4eveR]

That's a pretty girly way to do it

[@sgbirch]

Oh God, I really am old. I was already a professional programmer in the eighties when i became the a popular choice for int. FORTRAN used the variables I to N as integers. I was used most often, a habit that persists to this day.

[@MonsPubis7]

4 years of programming in college, and youve explained it better than 90% of tutorials and all my college professors combined. Thats actually hilarious, maybe you should make a separate channel dedicated to teaching people, obviously you are, youre teaching solutions, problems, and everything really with the world. Id sub to that channel in a heartbeat(yes ik how to code, but seeing another perspective and showing it and explaining it better is always a priority to me) i never like youtube videos, but im givin this vid a like

[@jd-zr3vk]

You are hearing this again and it is just now clicking. You understand because of our college professors.

[@KidsLearnHTML]

I know you're telling the truth. I feel sad and angry about this! This is from an online article about James Altucher (chess master and best selling author) . It said: Altucher says he ended up taking on "massive" debt to go to Cornell, where he majored in computer science. He then attended graduate school, though he dropped out before finishing the degree. He says he still didn't have the skills needed to enter the workforce.
*"When I finally got a job, I was so bad at computer programming they had to send me to remedial classes for two months so I could be good enough to do the minimum required at my job," he explains. "So I'm not sure what I went to college for."*

[@user-fr2fm3ri3w]

He taught you how to make a hello
World loop your professors taught you more important stuff I’d hope

[@ijustfelldown]

I'm a Civil Engineering student, have never coded anything except "Hello World" in highschool and still understood what was going on. Felt awesome.

[@olliefischer]

tom's just that good at teaching m8 😊

[@snickerdoooodle]

I'm a computer science major. I wound up getting a job in civil engineering
pls help

[@sablesoul]

I love how his programming reflects his nature as a linguist. He approached the problem from the "word" side instead of the algo side.

[@jsonkody]

I would do it exactly same and I am not linguist. This problem is about words not so much about algorithms.

[@nekogod]

When I was learning programming we were taught to always start with suedo code in plain english as it made it much easier to understand what the code was supposed to be doing
For example if I've written "When count is greater than 7 output a message box saying limit reached" and then I write "if varx

[@michaelscofield2652]

Do you even know what ur saying or just picked something up from a lecture at school?

[@nekogod]

@@michaelscofield2652 yes I know what I'm saying

[@daydodog]

Yeah we were told to pseudocode but I've found it's largely a waste of time for most problems. The only time I ever really bother is with recursive algorithms

[@AndyZE123]

Probably the most consistently interesting CZcams channel there is. Thanks for your efforts.

[@farkler4785]

to fix the repetition part you could make the if statements a function, something like
function isMultiple(number, multiple, result) {
if (number % multiple == 0) { return result }
else {return " "}
}
And then in the loop do:
output += isMultiple(i, 3, "Fizz")
output += isMultiple(i, 5, "Buzz")

[@Misteribel]

But now you’re still repeating yourself. Instead, consider putting the ‘3’, ‘5’ etc rules in a little list, with their expected outcome, and you get a generic solution, without repetition. Make those rules an argument to the function, and it becomes composable.

[@givrally7634]

Had a question like that in an interview. I asked for specifics. Does it need to be fast ? Or short and efficient ? Does it need to use as little memory as possible ? I already had a few ideas how to do it, but only after those questions had been answered did I know what the best one was. In your job and even more importantly in your job interview, you don't want to just give an answer, you want to give the best answer, and that needs knowledge of the problem.

[@MunyuShizumi]

Maintainability also becomes a thing, especially when it comes to potential future changes. Will multiple matches always append words or is FizzBuzz for 3&5 actually a special case where appending just incidentally works? Should conditions be evaluated in a specific order? Will there be negative conditions (like with leap years)? Non-modulo conditions? Etc.
There's at least a dozen good solutions depending on what the goals are, which makes this problem a lot more profound than it initially seems.

[@carnap355]

Its mod 3*5 elseif mod 3 elseif mod5 else i

[@toxic_narcissist]

totally wrong. If they ask you to do it you do it. I wouldn't hire you

[@X3zbeth]

@@toxic_narcissist I wouldn't work for you then

[@tomsterbg8130]

@@toxic_narcissist good luck hiring someone nice and competent (username checks out)

[@zombieallen]

I've been learning C++ for just under a month and decided to take this on as soon as I learned about for loops. I managed to figure it out using those nested if-else statements, and I'm absolutely thrilled that I was even able to get it to work. I see now that my code is dodgy, but that's okay! My goal was for it to work, and that was hard enough. I hope in time I learn to think ahead and code clean, but for now I will take the win :)

[@RutgerOlthuis]

I try to avoid else as much as you can. Using break/return statements to bail out of nested places when possible.

[@LRM12o8]

In C++, why not use SWITCH? Way easier to understand and expand.
IF should only be used for decisions with two possible outcomes.
(yes, they compile to the same, but a bunch of IFs stringed together gets confusing fast)

[@WyvernYT]

Agreed. At a month into learning programming you're just fine playing with loops and if-then-else statements. You're doing great; don't worry about the advanced stuff.

[@KF-zb6gi]

Hello if else fellow, I did it too👋🏻👋🏻

[@nikkiofthevalley]

@@LRM12o8 You also can get stuff too long for a switch statement, in which case you probably want to do it dynamically if you can

[@ahreuwu]

I recently took a quick js course and I can proudly say that I recognize all the code in here. I haven't put any mental effort on trying to solve the problem, but I now understand exactly what's going on where and why the last code is much better than the other!

[@gavros9636]

I raise you my habit of making every single thing a function. Functions that call functions that call more functions, functions that call themselves recursively in one case.

[@edgeeffect]

using "i" as a loop variable dates back to ForTran. In ForTran, variables were one letter and most were automatically real/float but a few (I don't remember how many) starting at "i" for "Integer" were automatically integers (and ideal candidates for loop indexes). ForTran was a diabolical language. I always like to use "c" for loop counters 'cus I still get a pathetic geeky thrill out of writing "C++" and it being valid code.

[@mspenrice]

That probably explains why my dad used to write Sinclair BASIC progs with i and j (and occasionally k or even l) as the variables for his FOR-NEXT loops... before he ended up in management his gruntwork was a string of programming gigs on industrial mainframes that used that kind of hoary old language. Always thought it was a bit odd, and that maybe he was "leaving space" to use the lower letters for other purposes or something... (hey, I was like five years old, I knew nothing)

[@glorylyfe8314]

i stands for index.

[@MideoKuze]

^"i for index" comes from math, as do j and k. Current Fortran specs implicitly type variables starting with various initial letters, but you can disable them.
Fortran is still in extensive use because of its performance in vector arithmetic, interestingly enough. It's not particularly hard to write in, once you get the hang of it.

[@albertbatfinder5240]

The implicit integer variable names in fortran were those that started with i j k l m n. Or i to n, or the “in” crowd as I used to remember them. “In” for integer if you prefer. As a default I preferred “k”, because it doesn’t look like the numeral 1 or the lower case L. K was my kounter. This habit has persisted for 40 years.

[@dasemmiyogurt6288]

For some reason I use k. And if I have a second for loop in a loop then I use c.

[@nelimalu601]

After reading some comments I came to the conclusion that "i" means one of the following:
- index
- iteration
- iterator
- increment
- integer

[@jackk3094]

Iterator although it could be index if you are working on arrays or something

[@DBZM1k3]

Iota is another meaning. In fact languages like c++ have a function called iota which will fill array with sequentially increasing values starting from a value you decide.

[@sn0wgleb]

Index is the best way to think about it. There are iterators in other languages and they are a bit different.

[@MrKogarou]

I assume it's originally from math... xyz and ijk are common variable/dimension names. When not using xyz coordinates, ijk is the more available set of short variable names, and thus eventually became the convention.

[@darshan5044]

Integer best suited

[@thomashanson6603]

Thanks for making this, I haven't done any coding in a few months since my last class, it was nice to brush off the dust on it.

[@madmanwithaplan1826]

no matter your level of coding we all agree the biggest sin in this code is no one left any notes.

[@theodorechandra8450]

"Im writing in JS, it's not the best language, but it is one of the easiest"
Me coding in python : what?

[@Flackon]

Python is both an easy language to start with and a good one. JS is not.

[@jujuProductions]

actl with py experience its p ez to start basic js because its almost the same just with slightly different syntax

[@Flackon]

@@jujuProductions python has radically different syntax to JS

[@jujuProductions]

@@Flackon like basic basic js

[@chrispo7610]

Imo js is the worst beginner language

[@howmuchbeforechamp]

This has taught me more about code than 2 hours of tutorials

[@berkgaffaroglu8614]

bruh

[@ammyvl1]

@@arlingtonhynes how do you propose someone learns to code, if tutorials are not allowed

[@arlingtonhynes]

@@ammyvl1 Programming tutorials are usually written by bad programmers who don’t understand the material.
Learning something wrong is not the same as learning it right. If you can’t grasp that, go away.
Then again, if you didn’t understand my comment, you’re a hopeless idiot.

[@mohit_panjwani]

@@arlingtonhynes snob.

[@arlingtonhynes]

@@mohit_panjwani Getting it right actually matters. Clown.

[@nazifahamid6587]

Please post more videos about coding tom! I feel like i learn more from this 7 min videos than hours of other tutorials.

[@TypicallyThomas]

I made a solution in Python. I'm quite proud of it:
rules = [[3, "Fizz"], [5, "Buzz"]]
for i in range(1, 101):
output = ""
for rule in rules:
if i % rule[0] == 0:
output += rule[1]
if output == "":
output = i
print(output)

[@JonMW]

Son, that should be a dict.
rules = {3: "Fizz", 5: "Buzz"}
for i in range(1, 101):
output = ""
for divisor, word in rules.items():
if i % divisor == 0:
output += word
if output == "":
output = i
print(output)

[@TypicallyThomas]

@@JonMW That's also an option

[@sohummohare6364]

Very cool

[@yeetdeets]

​@@JonMW The results should be pre-calculated and put into a dict as well. Takes less time to multiply the special cases than to check every number against a logic statement with division in it.
-----------------
low, high = (1, 101)
# if you don't understand the following two lines, look up "list comprehension"
fizz = {i*3: "Fizz" for i in range(low//3, high//3)}
buzz = {i*5: "Buzz" for i in range(low//5, high//5)}
for i in range(low, high):
# dict.get defaults to returning None if key doesn't exist
# None checks as False in an if-statement
if fizz.get(i) or buzz.get(i):
# The default return value from dict.get can be changed with a second argument
print(fizz.get(i, "")+buzz.get(i, ""))
else: print(i)
----------------
Trying to add the idea of a rules dict makes it into list/dict comprehension city!
-----------------
low, high = (1, 101)
rules = {3: "Fizz", 5: "Buzz", 7: "Duzz"}
results = {rk: {i*rk: rv for i in range(low//rk, high//rk)} for rk, rv in rules.items()}
for i in range(low, high):
# if the key doesn't exist, no list index is created. Meaning the list length will equal the number of keys found.
resultList = [results.get(r).get(i) for r in rules if results.get(r).get(i)]
# an empty list checks as False
if resultList:
# join is a string method which joins all strings in an iterable with the target string
print("".join(resultList))
else: print(i)
----------------
This code can then be wrapped in a while loop where low and high is increased by 100 to make the game work infinitely.

[@RideByAquib]

mine is quite traditional :
for i in range(1, 101):
if (i % 3 == 0) & (i % 5 == 0): print(i, ": FizzBuzz")
elif i % 3 == 0: print(i, ": Fizz")
elif i % 5 == 0: print(i, ": Buzz")
else: print(i)

[@railgap]

from TimDay on StackOverflow: "Mathematicians were using i,j,k to designate integers in algebra (subscripts, series, summations etc) long before (e.g 1836 or 1816) computers were around (this is the origin of the FORTRAN variable type defaults). The habit of using letters from the end of the alphabet (...,x,y,z) for unknown variables and from the beginning (a,b,c...) for constants is generally attributed to Rene Descartes, (see also here) so I assume i,j,k...n (in the middle of the alphabet) for integers is likely due to him too."
There you go.

[@davidelrizzo]

I just learnt something

[@NOTNOTJON]

i is for integer
'nuff said.

[@QqJcrsStbt]

This would help understanding how FORTRAN ended up with i to n as integer naming initials, so far great. I was not aware of of 19th C conventions. My guess is that engineering/scientific programmers of my generation brought up on 14" Winchesters, punched tape, music ruled paper and teletype terminals developed some rigid habits through the use of FORTRAN. IBM FORTRAN was '56 maybe, I cut my teeth on FORTRAN 77 on a Perkin-Elmer, K&R came out '78? My money goes on FORTAN for 'popularising' it and their fore fathers for insping/informing them.

[@psyarts8687]

I j k and are actually used in linear algebra to denote the values of a vector so it’s still very common

[@mrosskne]

i means iterator. this isn't a mystery. it's common knowledge.

[@unit0007]

I learned to code C from an old book from the 80s, and the book said that 'i' stands for iteration. And that's the way I have been thinking about it ever since. And a quick google search told me that convention of using 'i' to mark iterations has deep roots in mathematics, reaching way back to the pre-digital age.

[@launchsquid]

sounds right to me, I was told it stood for integer but I believe your explanation more.

[@Roxor128]

I thought of it as "iteration", "index" or "increment" depending on what the loop was doing.

[@senorpoodles1755]

"i" for iterator.

[@experimentators8699]

I just used i because it had no meaning, because i is a temporary variable

[@uchihasurvival]

@@launchsquid n stands for integer in general. i, j and k are used for iteration. Sounds familiar? It's also used to represent vectors in math, but in C, it's arrays.

[@bestcreations4703]

When I was making a slideshow for a programming workshop I had to present I included fizz buzz on it, and I wanted to write it in a way that was both the most simplistic and yet readable that you could since I was fitting it on a slideshow. I ended up using a string to hold my output, do the check for the fizz and buzz and if it were true I would simply append the text. Then I check if the string was empty, if so I added the number to it. Then I added a new line character and printed it. Very simple, no complicated if-else if-else or anything of the sort. Computationally it’s not doing anything super laborious either. Obviously it is not the best in any way, but it wasn’t designed to be it was designed to be compact yet digestible to starting programmers while still showing the unique ways you can solve a problem and I think I did that.

[@sofiaknyazeva]

Few notes and if you do it in C
1. You can break after matching last modulo which will remove the overhead of having another if statement at the end
2. For more efficiency, you can remove modulo checking since it's a O(n) algorithm, a larger value would significantly decrease the performance on low end systems. Computers are slower at division, especially floating point.
3. JS console.log(...) always adds a newline at the end. If you use nodejs you can use process.stdout.write(...) which directly calls write(...) syscall without overheading of having a newline. Of course, it still buffer.
4. C doesn't have this, so FizzBuzz will he printed on that same line.
:)

[@antonhelsgaun]

What would you do instead of modulo?

[@InstaFall]

Yea FizzBuzz would be printed but also all the other numbers that comes after a "Fizz" because you didn't add a "
" so not a correct solution

[@widjadija]

This was so easy to understand even though I have almost zero coding experience. I wish I had you as a professor

[@KingUnity22]

Programming is just putting logic into words and symbols. So long as you can think, you can code.

[@christopheraplin]

@@KingUnity22 Not to mention, once you can speak the 'language' all you're doing is googling your problems.

[@agg4000]

1:59 “that’s not instantly translatable into code”
[laughs in Haskell pattern matching]

[@humm535]

[laughs in Go’s switch-statements]

[@isweartofuckinggod]

[laughs in LittleBigPlanet2 selector blocks]

[@cryotheus115]

[laughs in Scrap Mechanic logic blocks]

[@igornowicki29]

[laughs in Minecraft Command Blocks]

[@Kevin-kb]

[laughs in OCaml almighty pattern matching]

[@snjert8406]

I am now fricken pondering on this for more than half an hour and I'm mad at you for bringing this into my head

[@juandelacroix7419]

Great explanation! I'm just learning how to code in Javascript and this has been very helpful. Thanks!

[@TomScottGo]

The second in the three "Basics" videos: this one's about code, not opinions, so let's see what people think! I think I've managed to remove all the typos from my code. And if you're wondering about the blinkenlights behind me, that's the Centre for Computing History's Megaprocessor: pull down the description for a link to more details!

[@TheWaWPRO]

Love this.

[@anxplodinturtle7928]

Tom Scott this was cool! Quick question: I could have easily solved this with my single semester of Python coding that I took in college this year. Is that normal? It seems this test is a bit easy...

[@OrigamiMarie]

Tom Scott Always assume that the person who will maintain your code after you has violent tendencies and knows where you live.

[@OrigamiMarie]

AnXplodinTurtle Yes this test is easy. I've only seen it as a warm-up question before moving on to harder questions, usually as a quick filter when it's suspected that the interviewee can't code their way out of a paper bag. It's super useful for that!

[@PMakerYT]

AnXplodinTurtle It's supposed to be easy. It's not just about "Can you solve it?" (if you cannot, why are you applying for a coding job?), but also about *how* you approach the problem. Are you writing something that works and calling it a day? Or are you planning, weighing pros and cons, preparing for future needs?

[@PhilThomas]

Something else to think about, the "Pretty up later" style of coding does run into an issue with my old boss's idea of "what if you get hit by a bus" theory. IE there may not be a "later" that you can use to pretty up the code, and therefore you should make sure that if it must be ugly, that there are at least notes or comments explaining what is going on.

[@toutlemonde5017]

I don't think it's just about someone else taking over your code, though... I've definitely looked back at code I wrote six months ago and had no idea what the hell I was doing.

[@fnorgen]

These function names made sense at the time, but what the hell does preArgCheck do? Or initSetFolow? What was I thinking?

[@ObjectsInMotion]

If you get hit by a bus tomorrow better to have messy code that works than pretty code thats unfinished.

[@draxiss1577]

My Algorithms and ADT's professor told the class if that they got nothing else out of her class, at least make sure to provide documentation.

[@AOEOt31os]

There's always someone else to pick up the slack and finish the work though, that's a great deal easier if the code is easy to follow and continue than it is to work through a spaghetti of mess. Bigger picture and future planning vs more immediate results.

[@KanpachiGaming]

Good point about not leaving too much of a mess for those tasked to maintain your code in the future, I've been on the receiving end of such a mess and it is an absolutely hellish experience.

[@aes0p895]

you don't really do different things if the number is divisible by both, you just do both things (assuming you're doing a concat which you should) . :) thanks for the fun video, tom!

[@Blabla130]

Now I want a video of Tom playing FizzBuzzFuzzBizzBiff

[@philadams9254]

Yes please

[@derkateramabend]

Definitely

[@barnowl2832]

is that 3,5,7,11,13 or something?

[@ethandole2218]

Have a different word for each prime number less than 1000

[@adambruzon8339]

Depending on who you ask, "I" could stand for iterator, integer or index...

[@milankowww]

Or iguana for that matter. But the only correct answer is integer. Learn your Fortran already

[@alexwales8914]

Or the square root of -1

[@looserty819]

I use x, I feel like I'm weird

[@edbarnard6429]

@@looserty819 simple algebra thought process, it's not weird. you just thought, "well i need a letter to represent a number, and everyone just uses "x" for that"

[@DarthGTB]

I usually use a word. in this case could be "index" or "iteration" (instead of iterator) because sometimes you are going to use that variable inside the loop, so I do that for the sake of readability

[@XamiNaxamis]

Tried this in C++, went with a modular but super front-loaded solution by declaring two arrays with the divisible numbers to use and the strings to look for, then used pointer arithmetic to auto-calculate the length of the arrays in a nested loop that runs thru both arrays to check the counter of the bigger loop. Sightly unwieldy and I probably didn't explain it well, but it worked okay!

[@twokegs1]

Genuinely happy to see your uploads 😁

[@deanmoncaster]

I'd just post on stack overflow and disguise it as a game of code golf and then hand in what they gave me.

[@groszak1]

then you find out it is a duplicate

[@mg5347]

'pause the video and have a go at it'
When I did my GCSEs 12 years ago my IT teacher told me it would be a waste of money to even put me in the exam

[@PrimeGamator]

What a nice teacher...

[@brooksgunn5235]

Did you prove him wrong?

[@mg5347]

@@brooksgunn5235 nope, can't use a computer for anything other than word and video games...to be fair there's not much need of a smith who codes

[@dustinandrews89019]

I had a similar experience with, but I did end up as a computer programmer.

[@pavelcistjakov243]

Hi Tom! 5 years on, this is still relevant. I was told if I get to my final stage of interviews fizzbuzz would be the challenge

[@trens1005]

I always thought the reason "i" was used to demonstrate loops was because the word iterate begins with the letter "i". The reason for j,k etc... is because they're next in the alphabet.

[@Ken.-]

"We like to see how well you can program. Can you write a program that writes out FizzBuzz one hundred times?"
"Uh, what will this job be for?"
"Lead Programmer for Windows 10."

[@bramkivenko9912]

Quite rare a comment makes me laugh hard!

[@zach7482]

Go full programmer on them. Print fizzbuzz 100 times, like they said.

[@sergey1519]

@@zach7482 python 3
print ("FizzBuzz
"*100)

[@superhavi]

Print "FizzBuzz one hundred times?"

[@drklimbal]

100.times { puts "fizzbuzz" }

[@samuelljacksondacoolest]

Way 3:
print ("1")
print ("2")
print ("Fizz")
print ("4")
print ("Buzz")
print ("Fizz")
..and so on

[@ZeldagigafanMatthew]

Make it work on 7s instead of fives, and run it out to 500! You've got one minute to make the edits.

[@Ezekia]

@@1ax i mean, no

[@tomlamba6207]

@@1ax oof

[@mootwo_]

Zeldagigafan let me just pull out this random flash drive I have that coincidentally has the file for that

[@clock4883]

@@1ax This is super true, I used to be an active roblox developer using proper programming techniques, and... To say the least, HOLY CRAP ROBLOX LUA DEVELOPERS ARE SO TERRIBLE 99.99% OF THE TIME, People would get me to work on a project because they couldn't find someone else to do it, so I'd help them out just to see that another dev had been there, only just to dump thousands of lines of spaghetti and garbled bad techniques. I'd just delete all of their code and script objects and do my job after that had been revealed to me.
So glad I don't work with roblox development anymore.
Apologies for any grammar errors, im too lazy to fix em

[@H4KnSL4K]

Nicely animated! And great solution - Thanks

[@LV-ii7bi]

6:32 You would create an array with the divisors, and a function that takes 3 params, i, divisor and output, an optional function parameter too if you want to process the output.

[@overlordsweg8399]

the true java way would be to have a service provider bundle with a factory for creating AbstractTransliterationFunctor's and another bundle for sending the results to any one of our 15 output formats which are specifiable through a simple eclipse rcp ui with an extendable antlr grammar

[@lionkor98]

get well soon

[@DreadKyller]

JavaScript != Java he was using JavaScript, not Java, they are very different, the only similarity being part of their name...

[@terimarymags]

Overlord Sweg dude you're melting my pathetic little brain

[@overlordsweg8399]

DreadKyller I was joking about how to implement it in an oo language like java

[@whuzzzup]

google FizzBuzz Enterprise.

[@hendriks_kevin]

Always program so the next person can understand what you ment to do, because it could be you in 5 years (or later).

[@sergeant5848]

5 years? A couple of weeks is all it takes me to forget nowadays!

[@JNelson_]

Try 40 years.

[@julianmeier5235]

If you want to keep your job, you have to write code that noone else understands. This way they can t replace you cause you re the only one who can maintain the code ;)

[@zain4019]

Julian Meier :(

[@vishakapajapaksha4784]

@@julianmeier5235 i had a co worker who does that

[@vigormortishs]

Damn, I wanted to implement this point of view while I was teaching. Your resources are so good for education. I know it's an old video, I discovered you recently, just keep up, you are awesome :)

[@4thalt]

As someone who doesn't even code, I noticed a flaw.
Instead of checking if the number is a multiple of 3 and 5 at the same time, you could check if it's a multiple of 15 instead. All multiples of 15 are also multiples of both 3 and 5, and now you need only one check instead of 2.
Then you could also set the multiple of 15 to the string "FizzBuzz", so that you don't get the answers showing up in two lines thing.

[@jellie4295]

I love this video. I actually paused and got up from my lazy ass and programmed something! And after an embarassingly long period of time it worked! Yaaaay! Thank you Tom, I'd love to watch more videos like this, and my programming teacher will be glad that I didn't forget _everything_ in the holidays :)

[@noboilfrog9431]

Yes it made my fingers twitch too.

[@pravinrao3669]

it took me 3 minutes.I am not even in college just in school. class IX

[@asgeiralbretsen]

@@pravinrao3669 You are blissfully unaware of how you are the butt of many jokes. It's easy to tell from your narcissistic and braggy comment.

[@Die-Coughman]

same dude

[@jamestanis3274]

@@pravinrao3669 Doesn't count without source :-)

[@chrisb9319]

You need an "i"terator for your loop. That's why you use i.

[@dorijancirkveni]

*mind blown*

[@alexkantor8238]

it's also the "i"ndex

[@luckymouse1988]

When I was a youngin', I associated the i with the practice of "i"ncrementing

[@RandomTomatoSoup]

nah it's from integer

[@jlc5639]

No it was because really old machines needed to be as efficient (short) as possible. I believe it started with machines that used punch cards as storage. Proper physical memory

[@akni3547]

I knew nothing about coding prior to this video. And that was so satisfying, him making the code more compact, bit by bit.

[@maddy3852]

I used to watch these when I was younger and I didn't understand them at all because I knew nothing about coding. Now I am taking a programming class and these vids are starting to make a lot more sense.

[@antontimeboy6094]

I think you made a (small) mistake when explaining for-loops. You explained it like the condition is checked after each execution of the block, but it's actually BEFORE.
Makes some difference.
Other than that, great video!

[@jamesmnguyen]

In other words here's the breakdown:
int i=0;
while(i

[@CasualCoreK]

Frustratingly, this can depend on the programming language.

[@turun_ambartanen]

+James Nguyen
not if you use continue!!!
+CasualCoreK
Interesting. do you know any examples?

[@hellterminator]

+CasualCoreK He specified he's using JavaScript. The condition is definitely checked at the beginning of each cycle in JavaScript.

[@lawrivanbuel7047]

Actually this is highly dependant on what language you use. in most ANSI C compilers you are correct. in Java its dependant on you JVM (for example on some JAVACard implementations this check is indeed the last call of a loop, in the form of a JMPNZ [Jump if not zero] instruction).
Javacript its dependant on your ECMAScript implementaion so basically you do not know.
But in Embedded C (or in optimised C) you simply do not know where the instruction is in the loop. All you know is that its called before the next iteration starts.

[@WilliamBoothClibborn]

This is useful to know for even people looking for work experience. I had to do this exact task to apply for work experience in an IT company.
Another good demo program to learn how to write is one to calculate a factorial of a given number.

[@koushuu]

Isn't this pretty basic? The easier way can be done by an amateur programmer (Me included). But it's the multiple quicker approaches that make me rethink about how us as IT developer should code: both nicer-looking, smarter and more ergonomic, which is harder than it looks.

[@deathbower]

So can FizzBuzz. As Tom said, it's about getting a feel for the programmer's style more than whether they could figure out if P = NP or something else horrendously complicated.

[@Nathanza]

Yes, but it's not about how difficult the task is per se. It's about how you think about the problem and how you would go about doing it. Which language you would do it in and what your code will look like. Like explained in the video, there are multiple ways it can be done and each way would show something different about the interviewee, so that's why it would be a good interview task, not because of its difficulty but of what it can show about the candidate as an exhibition of their skill and not just saying they can code.

[@placeholdername5559]

Factorial can be done like this in Java
public static int factorial(int x)
{
if(x==1){return 1}
else{return x*factorial(x-1)}
}

[@IonutLala]

Calculating factorial recursively is very simple but it uses up the stack very fast.

[@StraveTube]

6:18 That's why 15015 is my favorite number.
FizzBuzzFuzzBizzBiff

[@Th3F4i1Ur3]

I used a switch statement and a case variable inside the loop that would change based on whether divisible by 3, 5, or both. Then the switch does the output. Easy to add modifications and quite simple to read. Total line count is a bit higher though

[@PGReviews]

Or just abuse the hell out of JS:
for(i=0;i

[@BrianFrichette]

Kreditworks 😂 I love it.

[@Roxor128]

Is there a JavaScript version of the Obfuscated C Contest? That looks like it would belong in it.

[@philadams9254]

I think that's certainly the shortest way. I think this would win in "Code Golf" but it's not easy to read.

[@MsHojat]

That's nice. At least for "code golf".

[@DaRealMaus]

Very nice job, only complaint would be that it starts at 0 and goes to 99 instead of start at 1 and go to 100 :)

[@config2000]

Console.log("Virus detected. Switch off immediately!");
Phew .. Dodged a bullet there.

[@joshuan.]

I finally got around to following along with this after putting it off for 3 years.

[@baldeepbirak]

You can store the numbers as variables to declare once.
Also you can use switch statement.

[@martinpaulsen1592]

No, you can't use a switch statement, because you're not testing the same value against multiple possibilities where it can only be one of the possible values. A switch would be for something like "press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish, press 3 for Sindarin..." In this code, you only test each value (i mod 3, i mod 5...) against one possibility.

[@dunebasher1971]

That Megaprocessor is the most sci-fi-looking thing EVER.
It ought to be making noises thought. Beeps, ticks, whirrs. Like a proper 60s or 70s fictional TV computer.

[@jacobhuckins494]

would be cool to stick a little clicker on each of the LEDs and let it run

[@bbdawise]

I'm also imagining it running a bicycle wheel somewhere with a card in the spokes.

[@mspenrice]

attach a piezo buzzer and a couple of 555s plus the appropriate discrete components (one set for a short duration one-shot pulse, the other tuned to oscillate at a certain frequency different from all the other nearby ones) to each one? Beepboop city.

[@possiblykale]

I remember doing this in a computer science class, and I took the time to set up the string to add everything too, made a careful plan for my method, and my final code just ended up looking like the truly bodged code.

[@gaoindustries8013]

Since I code in C++, I would have just done "cout

[@justd1zzy383]

Thanks for this, Sir Tom!

[@ndxdirectorscut]

i like to call my Programming style "versatile Bodge"
basically i bodge things together, however I use alot of variables to let me edit the code later without editing the logic. i like to believe it makes it easy to edit for non-programmers as i have all the variables properly named at the top

[@lucky-segfault4219]

Honestly id rather work on code like this than just about any other, assuming you put some comments in to explain the weird or difficult to understand bits of logic

[@StilvurBee]

amen

[@MazeFrame]

That is how I do it for uControllers, Arduino or when doing a quick proof of concept in Processing.

[@JacobAlbano]

Thanks to Javascript truthiness, you can skip the last check and do
console.log(output || i);
If output is still an empty string, it'll go for the "truthier" value of i -- even if i would evaluate to 0 it'll still be chosen by default by virtue of coming second.

[@SergeofBIBEK]

Yeah, and then you can also chain it.
console.log(output || i || "Zero");

[@BrienMalone]

This needs more likes.

[@MsHojat]

cool

[@robertlinke2666]

you sir, are a genius!
thats efficient code!

[@dob1997]

is truthiness a technical term? (i hope it is)

[@corrupt1921]

a good way to have expandability is have 2 parameters to the functions (inputs) one with a list (array) of objects each one with the number and outputted word, then have your function create the tests for each of them itself, thatway instead of changing the function you merely change the inputs too it and get the results you want

[@HiHelloHi]

Asking for the type of solution before attempting the question would probably be worth while. A one liner for space that's more unreadable vs a function called in a loop that takes in the values to look for, returns a value and abstracts unecessary details when used by others

[@huntmich]

I feel like Tom Scott is somewhere between 25 and 50.

[@ivan-1876]

if "Tom Scott" > 25 and "Tom Scott" < 50:
print("True. Tom Scott is {} age".format("unknown"))

[@TypicallyThomas]

@@ivan-1876 Yes, except... Why are your variables strings?

[@ivan-1876]

@@TypicallyThomas I'm not creating a Tom Scott variable because then I would need to add a _ in place of the spaces and it would look bad haha that's the whole reason

[@wateryagarvideos5186]

@@ivan-1876 Python I see?

[@ivan-1876]

@@wateryagarvideos5186 It's the only language I've learnt if you don't count scratch

[@Jabrils]

Tom, that backdrop 😍

[@Codingale]

Oh it's Jabrils! Cool!
I'd say Tom should do a video on machine learning but that's more your style!

[@greg5929]

nice. ironically you've displayed a key concept that's typically missing from the arsenal of a newbie - iterative optimization. brilliant.

[@glenmonks4489]

I think I commented to this effect five years ago, but I want to do so again: This interview question has saved my company thousands of points and tens of thousands of hours. Before we did this test, we employed two programmers who quite simply couldn't program anything beyond what I'd call "scripts" that executed lineally from top to bottom with no internal logic.
What's more, the "feel" we get from a programmer as they do this test has turned out to reflect their real-life practices for years to come. The diligent perfectionists and the "just get it done" types show up, and our company benefited from having a balance of each of those types. We have a programmer who totally aced this test, and he continued to be the star programmer for many years.