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Discussion on: Terrible interview question: Swap variables without a temporary

 
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Miloslav 🏳️‍🌈 🦋 Voloskov

tbh I hate interview questions like these. I explicitly deny to solve them and explain interviewers that language quirks have nothing to do with product making (I don't usually work for outsourcers, I'd rather create something from scratch).

I think that program code is intended for humans, not computers. So I write it myself accordingly.

Even if it worked and was reliable, I can't even imagine the real world product-making, non-scientific and non-algorithmic task that requires swapping variables. I'd rather stick to mapping and filtering. And even if I needed swapping, I'd rather make it as obvious as possible.

So yes, it's unreliable. Just as unreliable as virtually any code that is not straightforward.