When I was doing this, groking pointers was required and functional programming unfortunately just wasn't an option. E.g. during this period LISP was anathema (even to the point where one project at the beginning of this decade died because it could only be done in something that productive but use of it was rejected for no good reason).
So my test was for understanding pointers as well as figuring out how smart they are at programming.
Plus as noted when things get ugly (e.g. in some debugging situations) groking pointers is required and as long as Johnny von Neumann's initial hack architecture rules that will remain true.
Today, I would most certainly take someone with "a good understanding of functional programming as a substitute for a good understanding of pointers", I'd just make sure a few also grok pointers and other low level stuff.
(I am so happy we have exited the Dark Age of Programming Languages.)
When I was doing this, groking pointers was required and functional programming unfortunately just wasn't an option. E.g. during this period LISP was anathema (even to the point where one project at the beginning of this decade died because it could only be done in something that productive but use of it was rejected for no good reason).
So my test was for understanding pointers as well as figuring out how smart they are at programming.
Plus as noted when things get ugly (e.g. in some debugging situations) groking pointers is required and as long as Johnny von Neumann's initial hack architecture rules that will remain true.
Today, I would most certainly take someone with "a good understanding of functional programming as a substitute for a good understanding of pointers", I'd just make sure a few also grok pointers and other low level stuff.
(I am so happy we have exited the Dark Age of Programming Languages.)