i need some C/C++ test intervie questions

[Bill Reed]

BTW: Does anyone know who wrote "C You Later, Alligator" ?

I'm not sure, but the Honeydrippers did "C of Love" and there was a
movie by the same title co-starring John Goodman (of King Ralph fame)
who I have always thought should get the starring role in the next
Bill Haley biographical film.

 

[Irrwahn Grausewitz]

I'm not sure, but the Honeydrippers did "C of Love" and there was a
movie by the same title co-starring John Goodman (of King Ralph fame)
who I have always thought should get the starring role in the next
Bill Haley biographical film.

Hm, how would John Goodman rate on the famous 1 to 10 scale of C
knowlegde?

Talking about music, I've searched my Beatles collection and found:

Tell Me What You C
I've Just C'n A Face
You Won't C Me
C Of Time
C Of Holes
C Of Monsters

Hm, "Monsters Of C" sounds better to me ...

 

[Kevin D. Quitt]

So I suppose the right answer is that the question is broken, or at least
provides insufficient information to give a meaningful answer. In this
case, however, the right answer is unlikely to get you hired unless the
interviewer is very clueful.

I repeat: this is not a pass/fail exam, and not meant to be scientific.
It is meant mostly as a bullshit detector for people who claim skills they
don't have. When I'm hiring a C programmer, I know about what level of
expertise I'm looking for, and my test includes questions about other than
just C programming.

As far as the scale goes, I've always assumed it's asymptotic rather than
either linear or log. I suppose "What's C" should be zero, but who really
cares? And as far as how people rate themselves, I look for a major
disparity between how they rate themselves and how they perform on the
rest of the test.

While I do not want to make the test public, I will send a copy to anybody
who asks. The answer sheet will cost you, though. 8o)

 

[Kevin D. Quitt]

I think it's quite rare for those who interview me for C-based roles to come
away from the ordeal worrying about my diffidence.

The last eight words are critical. If somebody rates themselves as a ten,
I'd expect them to answer every one of the questions correctly, even the
"trick" question. If somebody rates themselves as a 9, I would expect
them only to miss the few tricky questions that don't really reflect C
expertise (so much as they reflect reading this group).

Nowadays, it's quite rare, at interview, to come across a C test that I
can't punch a few holes in.

I think you'd have a hard time doing that with mine. Most of the
questions that have a "right" answer were 'borrowed' from this group or
the FAQ. Punching a hole in any of my questions gets you an automatic
acknowledgement that your C skills are stringer than mine. I consider
that unlikely in a candidate; the old hats in this group are excepted, but
I doubt I'd be interviewing any of you, and if I were, it wouldn't include
the test. More along the lines of "You can't do any better than here?".

But of
course I would resist that temptation, on courtesy grounds.

High marks right there. 8o)

 

[Martin Dickopp]

The last eight words are critical. If somebody rates themselves as a ten,
I'd expect them to answer every one of the questions correctly, even the
"trick" question.

Out of curiosity, would you allow the applicant to look into the C
standard? After all, I can also consult the standard while actually
programming.

Martin

 

[Ben Pfaff]

Out of curiosity, would you allow the applicant to look into the C
standard? After all, I can also consult the standard while actually
programming.

Out of curiosity, how many people actually do this? I know that
I fairly often refer to it myself while programming and have even
cited bits of it in debates at the office (VMware at the moment,
Stanford later this month).

 

[Dave Vandervies]

Out of curiosity, how many people actually do this? I know that
I fairly often refer to it myself while programming and have even
cited bits of it in debates at the office (VMware at the moment,
Stanford later this month).

I've often done so, for reasons ranging from "support for my claims
about some obscure language construct that somebody is trying to tell me
(works|doesn't work)" to "no harder than checking the man page to make
sure I have the argument order right"


dave

 

[Martin Dickopp]

Out of curiosity, how many people actually do this?

I don't know about other people, but I refer to standards (or RFCs, or
whatever is applicable to the given situation) quite regularly.

Martin

 

[Bill Reed]

Hm, how would John Goodman rate on the famous 1 to 10 scale of C
knowlegde?

Talking about music, I've searched my Beatles collection and found:

Tell Me What You C
I've Just C'n A Face
You Won't C Me
C Of Time
C Of Holes
C Of Monsters

Hm, "Monsters Of C" sounds better to me ...

I'm beginning to think this thread is no longer Cworthy.

 

[Kevin D. Quitt]

Have you ever been on the hiring end? Put out an ad for a C programmer
and you'll get a foot-thick stack of resumes, perhaps 5% of which are
actually people with C skills (although 50% will claim C skills).
headhunters can cut the stack down a bit, but I'm still left with weeding
out those who only claim to have C skills. Hence the "test".

A significant percentage of applicants through agencies will bow out
because they're embarrassed by how they do on the test (again - I send it
to them before the interview), or for personal reasons. Does this latter
mean that I might lose somebody I'd otherwise want? Possibly, but I have
to balance that against how much interview time I save.

If you claim a reasonable level of C expertise and get more than half the
questions right (or maybe get them wrong for interesting reasons), I'll be
talking to you.

I make this sound like I'm hiring people all the time. I'm not. It's a
rare occurrence and something I dread.

 

[goose]

[snip]

I guess I understand you wanting to gauge what they REALLY know (we seem to
have a lot of "know-it-alls" in this field who don't. Why is that?).

Can you name a field that doesn't?

marketing!
since all they ever seem to do is booze up with the clients at the
companys expense at various golf clubs ...

goose,
i'm in the wrong field

 

[goose]

What if the reply is "Who?" ?

<g>

the appropriate response is, of course, a rather loud and hearty
"Next!"

goose,
next !!!

 

[goose]

That's entirely your privilege, of course. In my own experience, the best
programmers are only too willing to demonstrate their knowledge, and are
not offended or insulted when asked so to do. The only difficulty with C
tests is that of finding an opportunity to demonstrate to the "examiner"
that your answers are correct; not all people who set C tests are quite as
familiar with C as they perhaps should be.

The problem i've had is that /any/ company that says "here, write this
test" has the test set by their best in-house programmers. of course,
that in itself is not a problem, the problem arises when these "best"
programmers aren't. I've recently (bout a year) wrote a test with 20
questions, of which 20 violated some bit or blob of the C standard.

I did, of course, not even consider hearing an offer from the company,
especially when I pointed out the errors in every single question and
the star developers response was a smug "no, it works like that, thats
how C works, when you get more experience you'll understand" ...

I'd rather not work under anyone with /that/ attitude.

I would not grant an interview to someone unwilling to take a test.

neither would I. although i *do* take non-IP code into an interview with
me, and also tell the interview panel that i can be available for any
test that they care to set.

very few take me up on the offer though (wonder why?) and very few want to
look at the code I bring in. these companies I generally ignore.

goose,
still on the prowl

 

[Richard Heathfield]

I repeat: this is not a pass/fail exam, and not meant to be scientific.
It is meant mostly as a bullshit detector for people who claim skills they
don't have.

Oh, absolutely. But does it correctly detect the opposite case, where people
have skills that they modestly understate? Your answer is of considerable
interest to shrinking violets the world over.

When I'm hiring a C programmer, I know about what level of
expertise I'm looking for, and my test includes questions about other than
just C programming.
Naturally.


As far as the scale goes, I've always assumed it's asymptotic rather than
either linear or log. I suppose "What's C" should be zero, but who really
cares? And as far as how people rate themselves, I look for a major
disparity between how they rate themselves and how they perform on the
rest of the test.

I would look upon a negative (self-deprecating) disparity far more
favourably than a positive (self-aggrandising) disparity.

While I do not want to make the test public, I will send a copy to anybody
who asks. The answer sheet will cost you, though. 8o)

Thanks. The addr in my sig block works fine. Don't worry about the answer
sheet. I'll write my own.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Out of curiosity, how many people actually do this?

Consult the standard during programming? Frequently. (And, if it isn't
immediately to hand, K&R2 generally fills the gap adequately, if not
perfectly. Unfortunately, I don't have a final copy of C89 or C90; so, if
there is a difference between C89 draft and C99 final, I might have to do
some actual thinking.)

Consult the standard during interviews? Never (at least, it hasn't happened
yet.)

I know that
I fairly often refer to it myself while programming and have even
cited bits of it in debates at the office (VMware at the moment,
Stanford later this month).

Consult the standard during office debates? Well, it's rare. The usual
reaction to "let me just show you the bit..." is "Rich! Rich! We
***believe*** you, okay?!?!?!?!?!"

Anyone would think they didn't like reading technical documents. Odd, that.




[A one-off public service announcement - i.e. spam, I guess - follows, in my
sig block, where the only rule it breaks is the four-line rule.]

--
Richard Heathfield : clc9899 at rjgh dot co dot uk
Warning: unconstitutionally oversized sigblock follows.
Anyone who has got this far in this thread is probably clinically obsessed
with C and has interviews on the brain right now. If you qualify(!), and
are a comp.lang.c regular (trolls need not respond), and happen to be
desperate for a job and happen to be within driving distance of the
Richmond-upon-Thames area and happen to have a significant amount of
experience in embedded systems, please drop me an email. Don't send me your
CV! (At least, not yet.) Please use the address clc9899 at rjgh dot co dot
uk for your reply. Thanks.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Talking about music, I've searched my Beatles collection and found:

Tell Me What You C
I've Just C'n A Face
You Won't C Me
C Of Time
C Of Holes
C Of Monsters

http://plig.org/things/beatles.html

One entry begins:

When I find my code in tons of trouble,
Friends and colleagues come to me,
Speaking words of wisdom:
"Write in C."

As the deadline fast approaches,
And bugs are all that I can see,
Somewhere, someone whispers:
"Write in C."

....and continues in much the same vein for another few verses.

 

[Ben Pfaff]

Consult the standard during office debates? Well, it's rare. The usual
reaction to "let me just show you the bit..." is "Rich! Rich! We
***believe*** you, okay?!?!?!?!?!"

Yeah, I just haven't been here at VMware very long yet, and these
debates usually happen on email anyway.

 

[Denis Perelyubskiy1770880499]

Consult the standard during programming? Frequently.

I would argue that in 99% of the cases, this should sound an alarm. To
me, this would mean one of two things: programmer who does so either
does not know C, or uses obscure constructs. Both of these are probably
not too great. First point, for obvious reasons, and second point, since
there is a great chance that a person reading the code would have to
consult the standard to figure out what was meant by this obscure
construct (for example, its the same argument as is used for using
parentheses more often then not: if you dont remember precedence rules,
chances are neither will the next guy; place some parantheses to save
him/her some time).

That said, I dont advocate remembering function arguments and every
function in a standard library (although one should probably know what's
available)... but you neither do you need a standard to check for those.

..... or did I misunderstand ?

denis

 

[Denis Perelyubskiy1770880499]

A significant percentage of applicants through agencies will bow out
because they're embarrassed by how they do on the test (again - I send it
to them before the interview), or for personal reasons. Does this latter
mean that I might lose somebody I'd otherwise want? Possibly, but I have
to balance that against how much interview time I save.

I started reading this book: http://makeashorterlink.com/?L1D922DC5
"How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the
World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers"

It discusses brainteasers in interviews (in our case, "C brainteasers"
to some extent), and quotes someone @Microsoft as making a good point to
the same effect you mention, Kevin. The point being that with a large
pool of applicants, you are much more concerned whether you can get only
good people, then you are concerned with the fact that you will falsely
discard many knowledgeable applicants. This seems to make sense: if you
still have a large pool after the initial coarse selection, why not do
it? This philosophy sucks from the position of an interview-taker, but a
person who is interviewing should be delighted

denis

 

[Irrwahn Grausewitz]

http://plig.org/things/beatles.html

Had a look. ROFL!

<SNIP>

I've got a last one: Nick Cave And The Bad Cs - "The Mercy C"