Fastest Sorting Algorithm Just Dropped

The rage-filled face screaming about base 10 is the perfect representation of that senior engineer who loses it when someone suggests using a different numbering system. Binary? Hexadecimal? Octal? Absolute heresy. The decimal system isn't just a preference—it's a religion to some. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to convert 0xFF to decimal without getting yelled at.

The interviewer asks for a simple array sort of just 0s, 1s, and 2s (literally the easiest sorting problem ever), and this poor soul immediately jumps to Bubble Sort—the algorithmic equivalent of using a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame. For the uninitiated, this is a classic interview problem with a O(n) solution—just count occurrences and rebuild the array! But under pressure, our brain defaults to the first sorting algorithm we learned in CS101. The interviewer's face says it all: your grandma with a walker would cross the finish line before your O(n²) bubble sort even gets halfway through. Nothing captures the interview panic spiral quite like forgetting that you're sorting just THREE UNIQUE VALUES while proposing an algorithm from the stone age of computing.

Ah yes, the classic university delusion where professors think coding on dead trees somehow prepares you for real development. Nothing says "industry-ready" like frantically scribbling syntax errors you can't compile, while the real world uses IDEs with autocomplete, Stack Overflow, and the sweet embrace of copy-paste. Four years of education and somehow they missed the memo that programmers haven't coded on paper since punch cards went extinct. But sure, let's pretend your handwritten bubble sort algorithm without syntax highlighting is preparing the next generation of tech innovators.

The engineering hierarchy has been exposed! Electrical engineers think they're battling the final boss with their wire mazes. Mechanical folks are over there playing with fancy VR gadgets thinking they're special. But the TRUE suffering? It's MATLAB users starting arrays at index 1 like absolute psychopaths. The programming world has an unwritten constitution, and Article 1 clearly states: "Thou shalt begin counting at zero." MATLAB just woke up and chose violence. It's like putting pineapple on pizza but for code - technically possible but morally questionable.

Forget sharks, serial killers, or even death itself. The true nightmare fuel is that one competitive programming problem that's been haunting your GitHub for three years. You know, the one where you've tried 47 different approaches, scrolled through StackOverflow until your finger developed carpal tunnel, and still get "Time Limit Exceeded" on test case #217. The problem that makes you question your entire career choice at 2AM while surrounded by energy drink cans and broken dreams. Death is merciful – CP problems are forever.

The eternal battle between pragmatism and the programmer's ego. When someone says "just use an existing engine," what they're really saying is "please don't spend the next 18 months building a half-broken physics system when Unity exists." But here we are, drawing our own circle from scratch because clearly no one in history has ever implemented collision detection correctly. It's like deciding to forge your own kitchen knife when you just wanted to make a sandwich. "But MY knife will have a slightly different handle grip!" Cool story. Meanwhile your game idea is collecting dust, and you're debugging quaternion math at 3AM.