That's a real oversimplification and self-serving...
It's true that this is a horrible idea, but for different reasons. Criminals first of all don't necessarily use encryption, because apparently even these days they get the drop on terrorists because they don't use proper encryption. But also if, as you say, ONLY criminals are using true encryption, that makes it a hell of a lot easier to identify and survail them. The NSA's biggest problem is that they have so much data that they can't find anything useful anymore, and its not getting any better. It would help them A LOT if they knew that people who have something to hide, break the law and use encryption.
On the flip side, this opens the door to mass hacking by criminals and foreign entities, which is why this is a fucking terrible idea. Not to mention that it basically destroys privacy and fosters mind censorship, because people will be afraid to search for what they are looking for.
Really bad example... Memset to zero members of a structure this way is actually something that should trigger a compiler error, because it makes no sense. I have limited understanding of C these days, but I consider that a good thing, because it allows me to look with fresh eyes on the crap I wrote back in the days. And this is one of them. It's nonsensical and similar to the general linux sentiment of naming your variable like random garbage. It's brainfuck. The only thing I can say with some distance is that exploiting undefined behavior in pretty much all cases should yield a compiler error.
Bad example really. There are many companies where you don't need to know this stuff, Google is not one of them. You want that 350k a year, but you don't know the basics about computer science to find the k-th highest element in a BST, well doh. What can I say...
To be honest, this is really a super simple question and I would be stunned if this was anything but a warmup for you, like the interviewer giving you a simple question to get you into focus. I haven't done anything with BST in years but still I could easily do this with a piece of paper. Back in the days, Google was asking to insert an element in a Red-Black-Tree. Well, this is a clusterfuck and far too specialized. But questions like those were rightfully banned.
Yeah sure, it's not what you do all day, but not being able to answer these questions has implications. There are many code monkey mills where you just write some JS code to hack a webpage together and it would seriously bother me if they would ask you such questions.
Just rethink what you really want. FAANG is not for everyone.
> To be honest, this is really a super simple question and I would be stunned if this was anything but a warmup for you, like the interviewer giving you a simple question to get you into focus.
> Back in the days, Google was asking to insert an element in a Red-Black-Tree. Well, this is a clusterfuck and far too specialized. But questions like those were rightfully banned.
Our blindspots are pretty funny. I can assure you that many people thought Red Black trees were easy enough and if you had a hard time, their advice would be:
> Just rethink what you really want. FAANG is not for everyone
Is it though? It's about as inspiring as Albert Einstein is for physics students. In general, taking inspiration from a genius is akin to the American Dream of becoming a millionaire when starting as a dish washer. The world doesn't work that way and most people will be happier and more successful by not aiming for the stars...
Don't get me wrong though. Back in university I loved reading these things and it is still nice to read them. But I would be careful to derive anything beyond amazement from it. It can be very frustrating to see how much you struggle with simple things, while some Indian clerk without any formal education shows you how its done. And you have to admire Hardy's character for not feeling the same way, or at least to a reasonable extend, not showing this feeling.
A man once asked Mozart how to write a symphony. Mozart told him to study at the conservatory for six or eight years, then apprentice with a composer for four or five more years, then begin writing a few sonatas, pieces for string quartets, piano concertos, etc. and in another four or five years he would be ready to try a full symphony. The man said, "But Mozart, didn't you write a symphony at age eight?"
Mozart replied, "Yes, but I didn't have to ask how."
In order to learn/study something, you need unbounded enthusiasm/motivation (though it maybe irrational). Once you have jumped in with both feet, reality will slowly strip the fantasies but hopefully by that time, one's interest is sufficiently solidified that one can settle down to the long grinding road to mastery. It is Emotion which drives one to Action while Rationality modulates it.
The key is to light the fire within one's imagination. Any kindling will do whether sane or not. Everything that the Human Species has achieved has started from here.
PS: For example, Ramanujan himself used to say that the goddess "Namakkal" revealed the theorems to him!
There is also a tradeoff between anonymity and target of interest.
All these suggestions only work when a lot of people apply them. Otherwise you end up just like with using privacy operating systems, like Qubes OS. Yeah, you will be safer, but everyone also immediately thinks that you have something to hide, which causes systems to double down on tracking you. You might even get some human "attention", if you actually have something to hide.
A couple of users using Tor, are not anonymous. A couple of people wearing IR glasses, are not anonymous. Millions of people using AdBlocker, that's already doing something. Think of masses.
If you try to be anonymous just by yourself, you are running into the trap of making your trails so uncommon, that people will still be able to track you. An example: Qubes OS causes so unique browser fingerprinting, that even under TOR, I will still be uniquely identified. That's why OS like Tails, spend so much effort avoiding different fingerprints for different users.
On the flip side, this opens the door to mass hacking by criminals and foreign entities, which is why this is a fucking terrible idea. Not to mention that it basically destroys privacy and fosters mind censorship, because people will be afraid to search for what they are looking for.