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FizzBuzz: Energy Drink or Coding Test?

Get your Fizz On! Don’t go Buzz Off! Crack open a FizzBuzz! Slam it down. Feel the burnnnnnn! Forget wings – Fizzbuzz gives you buzzzzz! Fly around on your Buzz and Ride The Fizzy!

If you aren’t thirsty right now then what is wrong with you?

On the other hand, FizzBuzz may be one of the classic developer tests widely used to filter out the estimated 90% of programming job candidates who can’t program their way out of a wet paper bag. You know the types, the ones that use the Stack-Hammer method of programming (looking up a solution on Stack Overflow and then hammering on that code until something semi functional emerges).

So which one is it?

Let’s take a look at each product here. At the surface they appear wildly different. One is a thin aluminum can wrapped around a synthesized liquid reminiscent of goat pee with various amalgamations of substances with various non-organic root extracts and copious amounts of yellow dye #45 and makes your bathroom visits set off Geiger counters. The other started as a group word game for children to teach them about division that teaches kids to not hesitate or give wrong answers for fear of being kicked out of the game and ostracized from society forever. Both of these can result in long term health issues and a healthy fear of “the man“. So they may be more similar than an initial glance would indicate. In order to determine which one is correct we need to dig deeper.


Product Description

Enjoyed by Coders and Deep Sea Divers alike. Enjoy the sparkling* cola* flavors of FizzBuzz – the drink that puts the hyper into hyper! Enjoy with cheese balls or stale twinkies (tacos not included). Whether you are a wanna-be hipster, slow jazz enthusiast, or like to knit anarchist sweaters, don’t forget to Ride the Fizzy!

FizzBuzz Energy Drink & Nuclear Waste Cleanup Incorporated LLC
* Drinks only appear sparkling in front of a disco ball. Drinks contain no carbonation or cola but can be used to replace battery acid

— OR —

Write a program that prints the numbers from 1 to 100. But for multiples of three print “Fizz” instead of the number and for the multiples of five print “Buzz”. For numbers which are multiples of both three and five print “FizzBuzz”.

Imran Ghory from: Using FizzBuzz to Find Developers who Grok Coding

Product Ingredients

FizzBuzz Cola Fizzy Drink Contains The Following:
-
caffeine
- fresh Slurm
- B34-Ginseng (our unique blend of herbs and vitamins)
- leftover Booty Sweat energy drink
-
caffeine
-
Di-hydrogen monoxide
- olive juice from extra dry martinis
- extract from the leftover bags used to make green tea
- guariaunana

- juice from one bottle of Ol' Janx Spirit
- caffeine

— OR —

FizzBuzz Coding Test Contains The Following:
- A dash of for loops
- A pinch of division modulus
- If-Else statements to taste
- mix and layer
- Add extra Fizz if it is a third layer
- Add extra Buzz if it is a fifth layer
- don't forget a semicolon topper!

For extra fun add in a dash of recursion!

Product Warnings

Do not consume this product if you are taking any prescription, non-prescription, legal, or illegal drug and/or have any medical condition. Do not use this product if you are pregnant or nursing, have every been pregnant, or ever want to be pregnant in the future. This product is intended for use by healthy individuals only. The user of this product assumes all liability if this product is used in a manner not consistent with label guidelines (in super-duper small print). This product contains caffeine and should not be used with any other caffeine containing products. One serving of FizzBuzz provides 1,956 mg of caffeine, which is more than twenty cups of coffee. Too much caffeine may cause nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, and, occasionally, rapid heartbeat. Not recommended for use by children under 18 years of age. Not recommended for use by adults over the age of 18. 

— OR —

Do not attempt if you are a StackHammer, Code Monkey, Script Kiddie, or have ever written a VBA macro. Serious programmers only. Do not attempt if you have not watched Firefly at least twice. Do not code if you have ever created, fixed, squashed, stepped on, or eaten a bug. Optimizations are mandatory. One attempt to solve must be made using VIM. Only solutions refactored to use tabs instead of spaces will be accepted. People wearing 'No Place like 127.0.0.1' shirts are prohibited from attempt this test. Otherwise, go 01000110 01101001 01111010 01111010 01000010 01110101 01111010 01111010 yourself.

In Conclusion

Darn! The results are inconclusive. So just go crack open a cold one and go write some code. Fizzbuzz to drink and FizzBuzz to code. Warning – both may keep you up late into the night and both may create an urgent need to pee. Don’t forget all of the additional flavors: Sugar Free, Binary Search Tree, Peach-Peanut Butter, and Topological Sort!


Writers note: There are tons of resources out there on this (in)famous coding interview question including a description and analysis along with a massive compilation of solutions from 2014 here: Fizz Buzz Test. There is also a great writeup from Jeff Atwood on CodingHorror here. While the popularity of this as an interview question may not be what it once was, this is a good general topic to have some knowledge about in case it ever comes up, and it makes for good practice on sites like HackerRank. Thanks for reading!

Photo by Tanya Santos on Unsplash

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