Take the 2-minute tour ×  One of the five people who interviewed
me asked a question that resulted in an hour-long discussion:
"Explain how you would develop a frequency-sorted list of the
ten thousand most-used words in the English language."  My
initial response was to assail the assumptions underlying the
problem. Language is a fluid thing, I argued. It changes in real
time. Vocabulary and usage patterns shift day-to-day. To develop
a list of words and their frequencies means taking a snapshot of
a moving target. Whatever snapshot you take today isn't going to
look like the snapshot you take tomorrow or even five minutes
from now.  Thanking you advance for your answers and
consideration.  share|improve this question The reason they ask
you this question is to see how you solve problems. So your
initial response is great: to be critical and independent and
wonder whether a requirement makes sense. At the same time, it
is important to at some point allow your interviewer (the
hypothetical customer) to make a