Pigeons are a lousy answer. It takes way too long to train them to memorize the file, and they usually make significant mistakes when asked to recite it back. :-)

Seriously, you never said machine B was more than ten feet away, and if all it takes it ten transport mechanisms to count as ten distinct answers, then the question can be answered trivially. ("Send a floppy by car/bus/train/pigeon/horse/elephant/ etc")

Here's my list:

  1. Retype it, using a hex editor if necessary.
  2. Put it on floppy/CD/zipdrive.
  3. Ethernet.
  4. Print the file, and scan it back using OCR. Use something like a uuencoding if necessary.
  5. Nullmodem cable across the serial/parallel port.
  6. Modem.
  7. Text to speech => tape recorder => voice recognition (like a modem, but more inefficient).
  8. Power down machine A, yank the hard drive with the file on it, re-install in drive B.
  9. Print bar codes & read back with a bar code reader.
  10. Hot-swap raid drives from A to B until the file is copied over. Keep replacing drives on A so that the system never goes down.

How's that? Do I get the job?

--
Ytrew

In reply to Re^2: On Interviewing and Interview Questions by Anonymous Monk
in thread On Interviewing and Interview Questions by eyepopslikeamosquito

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