I think if you are worried about the efficiency of their solution you ought to explain complexity/order notation, and then apply it to a some practical data structures, like arrays or hash maps. Even more awesome if you get them to do some time measurements in easy language X so to demonstrate the effect of complexity.
At crunch time, if they can judge the design trade-offs of their model&implementation, then that will eclipse any speed benefits of a compiled language.
Good luck!
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I think if you are worried about the efficiency of their solution you ought to explain complexity/order notation, and then apply it to a some practical data structures, like arrays or hash maps. Even more awesome if you get them to do some time measurements in easy language X so to demonstrate the effect of complexity. At crunch time, if they can judge the design trade-offs of their model&implementation, then that will eclipse any speed benefits of a compiled language. Good luck!