Why do Interviewers Ask Linked List Questions? • Hillel Wayne

A couple years back I gave a talk on researching software history, using “linked list interview questions” as an example topic. Since referring people to a video is less accessible than just writing a blog post, I’ve reproduced the question here.
So why do interviewers like to ask linked list questions? If you ask people, you usually get one of two answers:
“It tests CS fundamentals.” “It tests reasoning through a new problem.