Comment by AlexeyBelov

Right, but on interviews I've been on it's never the goal to test _exact syntax knowledge_. It's not hard to distinguish between someone who just can't program vs. someone who has knowledge of many languages and has a bit of a mish-mash in their head in an interview setting.

There are people who just can't program for whatever reason, regardless of whether they could previously. And they constantly try to interview at a programming position.