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I'd have to disagree. I think the interview process desperately needs an injection of pragmatism. If the actual job never requires Big-O analysis, then asking it during the interview is a waste of time. I've never had to do Big-O analysis in the real world, but I have had to fix N+1's. Ask about that.

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Maybe I'm missing something but isn't N+1 the difference between O(1) and O(n)?

Edit: Anyone want to explain how I'm wrong rather than just downvoting?

Edit 2: Understanding a N+1 problem is the equivalent of understanding the difference between O(1), i.e. fetch all data with a constant number of queries, versus O(n), i.e. the number of queries scales linearly with the number of elements.

It's this: https://secure.phabricator.com/book/phabcontrib/article/n_pl...

Yes, and when you solve your N+1 problem, you've replaced a O(n) algorithm with a O(1) algorithm.

Because your question makes so little sense that it seems sort of like a joke.

Thanks for your comment, I've tried to clarify things.

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