* the stack trace -- We avoid showing stacktraces to candidates as it has the potential of leaking information (a well created error message/stack can leak test case data).
We can and should show the trace (for languages that provide it) to reviewers. I've added an item to our internal tracker.
* Familiarity of environment: Most (if not all) of the challenges companies created by companies link to a sample test (hackerrank.com/tests/sample). We notice many but not all candidates take this before the actual challenge. Perhaps we should highlight this more.
I could not attempt 1 challenge out of 4 because i didnt get the question, and needed more information maybe another sample data? I was struggling for 30+ mins to understand the question but couldn't get any clues. I could not complete last challenge because of not understanding the question/pattern of question (maybe its my fault but a hint or 2 would have helped) rather than my coding ability. Maybe you can (as you work there) add 1 or 2 (optional) hints & make at least 2 samples of test data for tough questions. Anyways, it was a different and nice experience!
Sorry for the confusing wording; I intended for "segfaults" and "failing non-sample testcases" to be interpreted as separate things. Showing stack traces or any other info from the program's execution for non-sample cases would be a bad idea. However, if it segfaults for a sample testcase, showing a stack trace should be fine (and this will probably catch the vast majority of segfaults).
* the stack trace -- We avoid showing stacktraces to candidates as it has the potential of leaking information (a well created error message/stack can leak test case data).
We can and should show the trace (for languages that provide it) to reviewers. I've added an item to our internal tracker.
* Familiarity of environment: Most (if not all) of the challenges companies created by companies link to a sample test (hackerrank.com/tests/sample). We notice many but not all candidates take this before the actual challenge. Perhaps we should highlight this more.