The question we ought to ask though is: Is a candidate that freezes when asked to reverse a list be an employee that would be incapable of basic coding? Or more interestingly (to me) is the candidate that can easily write the reverse pseudocode on an interview whiteboard one that will be a good employee?

When I interview, I ask for her to write some code, yes. But I make it very simple: fizzbuzz, or reverse a string. But then inform the canditate that I am looking for style, craft and personality. Somewhat akin to a chef being asked to fry an egg