This one came up today and would be a damn good test of 'the right stuff'.

You have five text boxes on a form, with tabindexes 0 through 4. Explain the
algorithm which VB uses to renumber these tabindexes when one is changed.
Example, if you change the text box with tabindex 2 to have a new value of
4, the five textboxes will now have the tab indexes 0,1,4,2,3 instead of
0,1,2,3,4. OTOH if you changed the textbox with tabindex 2 to have a new
value of 0, you'd get 1,2,0,3,4 instead.

The idea is to derive an algorithm (in English will do) for what VB is doing
here. It is *reasonably* simple but not blindingly obvious.

The interesting thing about this question is that it is really quite a deep
one. You have to have a bit of a scientific mind and do a bit of
experimentation and make a few hypotheses. It really tests logical thinking
extremely well.

oh brother. you can't be serious.

I'd suggest asking the candidate some questions related to the project they
are being hired for. after all, if you ask someone to come in for an
interview, they supposedly have the skills you want for the position. a few
real-life questions about past projects can tell a lot...that of course,  
assumes the interviewer knows what he/she is talking about.

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Mark Schlageter               WWW: www.ftp.com
FTP Software, Inc.            Voice: 508-684-2243

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There was a touch of 'tongue in cheek' about that posting, don't take it too
seriously. That said, Microsoft have been known to ask candidates how a
number might be represented in Base -1, for example, to test their logical
thinking abilities.

I am also reminded of a famous saxophonist whose name temporarily eludes me;
he once approached Frank Zappa to audition for the Mothers of Invention; I
believe the dialogue went a bit like this:-

Zappa: So you play sax?

Candidate: Yes

Zappa: Whip it out.

IME candidates can be most glibly convincing until actually pressed with the
task of *doing* something.