Comment by gambiter

I hate to show my ignorance, but why the focus on binary trees? I've been programming for decades, but there are plenty of things I've never touched because I just didn't have a need in the particular job. Binary trees are one of those things.

What I mean to say is, I have tended to use existing libraries that might make use of binary trees, but that I have never had to print or modify them. If modification is necessary, it's always through the library. So while I understand the basic concepts, I'm having trouble understanding why it would be a useful interview question.

Do developers at Google and Microsoft actually manipulate binary trees on a daily basis? Like, ALL of them? I can understand that they would be a common thing in the bowels of some code, but surely not all developers in either company would run into them on a regular basis?