Verily Phone Screen Interview

That is a sad story…

Just several days ago, I received an email from Verily, an Alphabet company which delicates in life science. Their HR passed my application and going to move me to the phone interview. However, I messed it up…

I have to say that interview is not a difficult one. The question is like a medium level question at Leetcode:

Given a 1-dimensional axis, a man can move left or right in each time unit. How many possibilities that the man stands on x point after t time units?

I stupidly tried DP at first and struggled in how to implement the state transform formula, that wastes a lot of time.

Today, I reviewed this question and found a fairly easy solution. We do not even need Dynamic Programming.

l + r = t   (1)
r - l = x   (2)

Once we solve this equation, we can directly calculate the number of combinations. For example, the total possibilities of that man stand on point 5 after 9 time units is C72 = 21.

Quote

Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

Lex Luthor

Levithan

Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil

在人类的自然状态下,有一些人可能会比另外一些人更加强壮或者更加聪明,但是没有一个人会强壮到或聪明到不怕在暴力下死亡。当死亡成为威胁时,在自然状态下的人必然会尽一切所能来保护自己。Hobbes 认为保护自己免于暴力死亡就是人类的最高必要,而权利就是来自于必要。

在自然状态下,每个人都需要世界上的每一样东西,也有获取每一样东西的权利。但世界上的东西都是不足的,因此就有持续的,基于权利的“所有人对所有人的战争”。人生在自然状态下是“孤独、贫穷、龌蹉、粗暴又短命”。

自然状态下的战争并非对人最有利的状态。Hobbes 认为人因为自利和对物质的欲求,会想要结束战争——“使人倾向于和平的热忱其实是怕死,以及对于舒适生活之必要东西的欲求和殷勤获取这些东西的盼望”。

霍布斯认为社会要和平就必需要有社会契约。社会是一群人在一个威权之下,而每个人都将所有的自然权力交付给这威权,让它来维持内部和平和进行外部防御,只保留自己免于一死的权力。这个主权,无论是君主制贵族制民主制(Hobbes 较中意君主制),都必须是一个“利维坦”,一个绝对的威权。

对霍布斯而言,法律就是要确保契约的执行。利维坦国家在防止人对人的攻击以及保持国家的统合方面是有无限威权的。至于其他方面,国家是完全不管的。只要一个人不去伤害别人,国家主权是不会去干涉他的。(不过,在国家主权之上并没有任何更高的权力可以防止国家破坏这规则。)国家主权也要保持内部的平等。

In me the tiger sniffs the rose

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

我想让你见识一下什么事真正的勇气。勇气并不是一个人手里拿着枪,而是当你还未开始就已知道自己会输,可你依然要去做,而且无论如何都要把它坚持到底。你很少能赢,但有时也会。

Mood Journey

今天是周一,联系了一下之前微软的Manager。

正好他也是我AA面试的面试官,所以想问问他我面试的情况。

不过不太好的消息是,根据他的反馈,小冰今年的HC有点吃紧,候选人有点多。其实感觉就是变相劝退了。

知道这个消息当然是有点难受的。不过总会遇到挫折的嘛, 还有很多机会在等着我。

我猜这是最后一篇Microsoft Time的文章了,希望可以安心刷题,找到心仪的工作吧。