These aren't some obscure "nice to know" functions...this isn't a "you don't have the manual memorized" gotcha question. Those functions are fundamental to writing JavaScript web applications...particularly at that point in time, but even in today's world of DOM libraries. At this point in time (and even today to a lesser extent) JavaScript's raison d'etre was to manipulate DOM objects and those functions are key to that.
That's like saying "Heart surgeons don't need to be able to draw a rough diagram of a heart when asked...they can always consult a medical textbook".
Sure...I agree with you that heart surgeons don't need to have every obscure cardiovascular disease memorized...but they need to have memorized the basic cardiovascular functions, how the heart works, what it looks like, etc. The same is true for programmers of any type...there is a base amount of information that you should just know in order to be considered proficient for a particular field.
If a candidate comes in and doesn't know this stuff, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't hire them...however it does mean they are not proficient in whatever field and will need to be trained to some extent.
Also of course, as with any other sort of question; it could be they just had a "brain fart" or off day...but not asking these sorts of questions doesn't make that issue go away.
That's like saying "Heart surgeons don't need to be able to draw a rough diagram of a heart when asked...they can always consult a medical textbook".
Sure...I agree with you that heart surgeons don't need to have every obscure cardiovascular disease memorized...but they need to have memorized the basic cardiovascular functions, how the heart works, what it looks like, etc. The same is true for programmers of any type...there is a base amount of information that you should just know in order to be considered proficient for a particular field.
If a candidate comes in and doesn't know this stuff, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't hire them...however it does mean they are not proficient in whatever field and will need to be trained to some extent.
Also of course, as with any other sort of question; it could be they just had a "brain fart" or off day...but not asking these sorts of questions doesn't make that issue go away.