Developers Blues
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I just don't understand... Why is it that I score really low on a development assement test on the basic concepts and I max out on advanced concepts? I have been professionaly developing for 16 years and as a hobby for 28. Is:
(byte)a = b >> 8;really a basic concept? I didn't even use it befor writing intermediate graphics apps? I´m just a developerr And I love like my work I don´t mind the money at all I see lots of new faces And lots of bad cases of Folks with bad taste. But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life, To keep me from going dot * And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away I can highlight your bad code I can laugh at your jokes I can watch you fall down on your knees I can terminate your apps I can gas up my car I can pack up and mail in the key But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life To keep me from going away Now the banter fills the air In the board rooms during my review And i´m thinking ´bout Where i´d rather be But I burned all my bridges I sank all ships and I´m stranded at the edge of the shell prompt But I need eight gig's and 2 cpu's To hold on to my life To keep me from going away And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away X| -
I just don't understand... Why is it that I score really low on a development assement test on the basic concepts and I max out on advanced concepts? I have been professionaly developing for 16 years and as a hobby for 28. Is:
(byte)a = b >> 8;really a basic concept? I didn't even use it befor writing intermediate graphics apps? I´m just a developerr And I love like my work I don´t mind the money at all I see lots of new faces And lots of bad cases of Folks with bad taste. But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life, To keep me from going dot * And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away I can highlight your bad code I can laugh at your jokes I can watch you fall down on your knees I can terminate your apps I can gas up my car I can pack up and mail in the key But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life To keep me from going away Now the banter fills the air In the board rooms during my review And i´m thinking ´bout Where i´d rather be But I burned all my bridges I sank all ships and I´m stranded at the edge of the shell prompt But I need eight gig's and 2 cpu's To hold on to my life To keep me from going away And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away X|I suppose it used to be basic, but now I would consider it more advanced. I expect threads used to be advanced and now they're becoming more basic. You still have to know it all. :-D
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I just don't understand... Why is it that I score really low on a development assement test on the basic concepts and I max out on advanced concepts? I have been professionaly developing for 16 years and as a hobby for 28. Is:
(byte)a = b >> 8;really a basic concept? I didn't even use it befor writing intermediate graphics apps? I´m just a developerr And I love like my work I don´t mind the money at all I see lots of new faces And lots of bad cases of Folks with bad taste. But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life, To keep me from going dot * And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away I can highlight your bad code I can laugh at your jokes I can watch you fall down on your knees I can terminate your apps I can gas up my car I can pack up and mail in the key But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life To keep me from going away Now the banter fills the air In the board rooms during my review And i´m thinking ´bout Where i´d rather be But I burned all my bridges I sank all ships and I´m stranded at the edge of the shell prompt But I need eight gig's and 2 cpu's To hold on to my life To keep me from going away And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away X|setting aside the poetry, this: (byte)a = b >> 8; would just piss me off. Oh, I know, they want you to know about precedence. Moving on to real code, there should be an answer that says, "d) add parens to avoid ambiguous results" If I was the lead on a project, code like this would result in a discussion.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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setting aside the poetry, this: (byte)a = b >> 8; would just piss me off. Oh, I know, they want you to know about precedence. Moving on to real code, there should be an answer that says, "d) add parens to avoid ambiguous results" If I was the lead on a project, code like this would result in a discussion.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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I suppose it used to be basic, but now I would consider it more advanced. I expect threads used to be advanced and now they're becoming more basic. You still have to know it all. :-D
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Haha! :laugh: The code was ambigious (I have seen things like this on BrainBench, esp. the core Java and C#). The poety is a rendition of Trish Yerwood's 'Bartender Blues'. Guess I just go with the absolute of 'Let the compiler sort it out'.
:) I'll have to go look that song up. Letting the compiler sort things out is the EXACT thing that will keep you up at nights. If you have to think real hard what the logic will do, you need to re-write the logic. but, I think you agree with me on that part.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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:) I'll have to go look that song up. Letting the compiler sort things out is the EXACT thing that will keep you up at nights. If you have to think real hard what the logic will do, you need to re-write the logic. but, I think you agree with me on that part.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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I just don't understand... Why is it that I score really low on a development assement test on the basic concepts and I max out on advanced concepts? I have been professionaly developing for 16 years and as a hobby for 28. Is:
(byte)a = b >> 8;really a basic concept? I didn't even use it befor writing intermediate graphics apps? I´m just a developerr And I love like my work I don´t mind the money at all I see lots of new faces And lots of bad cases of Folks with bad taste. But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life, To keep me from going dot * And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away I can highlight your bad code I can laugh at your jokes I can watch you fall down on your knees I can terminate your apps I can gas up my car I can pack up and mail in the key But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life To keep me from going away Now the banter fills the air In the board rooms during my review And i´m thinking ´bout Where i´d rather be But I burned all my bridges I sank all ships and I´m stranded at the edge of the shell prompt But I need eight gig's and 2 cpu's To hold on to my life To keep me from going away And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away X|Just to prove the point I took the free C# BB test. Test: C# Date: 05-Jul-2009 Score: 2.56 Weights: 100% C# Elapsed time: 27 min 40 sec C# Score: 2.56 Percentile: Scored higher than 27% of previous examinees Demonstrates a solid understanding of core concepts within this topic. Appears capable of working on most projects in this area with moderate assistance. May require some initial assistance with advanced concepts, however. Strong Areas Value and Reference Types Weak Areas Grammar Developing Data Consumers and Services Methods Properties, Indexers, and Fields I failed! Min passing 2.76. Here are some of the tings I'm talking about:
if (a > b) c = 'a'; else { if (b == d) c = 'e'; else c = 'b'; }a)c = (b = d) ? 'e' : ((a > b) ? 'a' : 'b');b)c = (b == d) ? 'e' : (a > b) ? 'a' : 'b';c)c = (a > b) ? 'a' : (b = d) ? 'e' : 'b';d)c = (a > b) ? 'a' : (b == d) ? 'e' : 'b';e)c = (a > b) ? 'a' : ((b = d) ? 'e' : 'b');...and...public void A() { byte a, b, c; a = 255; b = 122; c = (byte)(a & b); }...and... 'Which one of the following compilers' flag turns on run-time integer range checking? ' -
Yeah I see your point. But if the language is OO, why not put empisis on the OO concepts? Most of these tests are putting things like polymorphism and interfaces in intermediate to advance concepts.:mad:
Oh, well, Object Oriented Programming is definitely an advanced topic. 'Tis a pity that beginners now have to learn it before they learn the basics.
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Haha! :laugh: The code was ambigious (I have seen things like this on BrainBench, esp. the core Java and C#). The poety is a rendition of Trish Yerwood's 'Bartender Blues'. Guess I just go with the absolute of 'Let the compiler sort it out'.
TheArchitectualizer wrote:
'Let the compiler sort it out
1. IMO that is a bad attitude. First of all, the compiler can only do so much. It does not understand algorithms, does not know your application domain, etc. All it knows is the grammar and syntax of a language. I would always try and write correct code, paying attention at all levels (design, algorithm selection, implementation, syntax, chosing proper identifier names, etc). And then I hope most of my occasional mistakes get detected by the compiler. Anyway, every message a compiler throws at me makes me very cautious: how is it possible it was not accepted, is there a larger mistake behind the scenes? As opposed to: I guess the compiler is right, lets get rid of the error messages ASAP. 2. Tests you take will test whatever the test designer considered important enough to include (or was able to include), and not what you consider important to your daily needs. I know a large fraction of C# quite well, yet I could easily fail a general C# test, as I don't care much for the latest language additions, never looked into say LINQ, still am strugging with the details of anonymous delegates, etc. If the test or interview is meant to judge your fitness for a particular job, there should be ample room for: (1) showing your professionalism, as in working meticulously, designing well, coding defensively, etc; and (2) showing your skills in finding out things, using MSDN, Google, CP articles, your own experiments, etc. :)
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Just to prove the point I took the free C# BB test. Test: C# Date: 05-Jul-2009 Score: 2.56 Weights: 100% C# Elapsed time: 27 min 40 sec C# Score: 2.56 Percentile: Scored higher than 27% of previous examinees Demonstrates a solid understanding of core concepts within this topic. Appears capable of working on most projects in this area with moderate assistance. May require some initial assistance with advanced concepts, however. Strong Areas Value and Reference Types Weak Areas Grammar Developing Data Consumers and Services Methods Properties, Indexers, and Fields I failed! Min passing 2.76. Here are some of the tings I'm talking about:
if (a > b) c = 'a'; else { if (b == d) c = 'e'; else c = 'b'; }a)c = (b = d) ? 'e' : ((a > b) ? 'a' : 'b');b)c = (b == d) ? 'e' : (a > b) ? 'a' : 'b';c)c = (a > b) ? 'a' : (b = d) ? 'e' : 'b';d)c = (a > b) ? 'a' : (b == d) ? 'e' : 'b';e)c = (a > b) ? 'a' : ((b = d) ? 'e' : 'b');...and...public void A() { byte a, b, c; a = 255; b = 122; c = (byte)(a & b); }...and... 'Which one of the following compilers' flag turns on run-time integer range checking? 'I took a C# evaluation test at Robert Half a while back, there were several questions where the answer they were looking for was incorrect. Such as one like "Which using directives are required to do such-and-such", the correct answer is "none of the above". You never need to use any using directives (I don't). There was also at least one question that made no sense at all. One of the problems is likely that such tests are not produced by pedants, but they really should be. Or maybe the taker should be able to select the level of pedantry? :-D
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I took a C# evaluation test at Robert Half a while back, there were several questions where the answer they were looking for was incorrect. Such as one like "Which using directives are required to do such-and-such", the correct answer is "none of the above". You never need to use any using directives (I don't). There was also at least one question that made no sense at all. One of the problems is likely that such tests are not produced by pedants, but they really should be. Or maybe the taker should be able to select the level of pedantry? :-D
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I just don't understand... Why is it that I score really low on a development assement test on the basic concepts and I max out on advanced concepts? I have been professionaly developing for 16 years and as a hobby for 28. Is:
(byte)a = b >> 8;really a basic concept? I didn't even use it befor writing intermediate graphics apps? I´m just a developerr And I love like my work I don´t mind the money at all I see lots of new faces And lots of bad cases of Folks with bad taste. But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life, To keep me from going dot * And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away I can highlight your bad code I can laugh at your jokes I can watch you fall down on your knees I can terminate your apps I can gas up my car I can pack up and mail in the key But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life To keep me from going away Now the banter fills the air In the board rooms during my review And i´m thinking ´bout Where i´d rather be But I burned all my bridges I sank all ships and I´m stranded at the edge of the shell prompt But I need eight gig's and 2 cpu's To hold on to my life To keep me from going away And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away X|There is another choice when presented with the automated test of programming skill ... say no. Places that use those test really just want the cheapest resource that gets at least score x. I mean how good would you feel if you scored 100% and then didn't get the position? Cheated? Probably. If computers can't pass a Turing test they most certainly can't tell good programmers from bad.
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
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:laugh: LOL! They haven't fixed that yet? I told them about that Five years ago. Out of 20 questions I found Seven which were absolutly wrong.
Other than the ability to briefly explain an "incorrect" answer, I had no opportunity to discuss the problems with the test with the recruiter.
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I took a C# evaluation test at Robert Half a while back, there were several questions where the answer they were looking for was incorrect. Such as one like "Which using directives are required to do such-and-such", the correct answer is "none of the above". You never need to use any using directives (I don't). There was also at least one question that made no sense at all. One of the problems is likely that such tests are not produced by pedants, but they really should be. Or maybe the taker should be able to select the level of pedantry? :-D
I had an interview once where the guy have me a snippet of C to explain and was told I gave the wrong answer. It turns out he didn't know how a
forloop works in C! :wtf: Oh, one thing he ask was if I would be able to comment someone else's code... :~ I'm guessing they dug a tunnel and escaped.Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.
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I just don't understand... Why is it that I score really low on a development assement test on the basic concepts and I max out on advanced concepts? I have been professionaly developing for 16 years and as a hobby for 28. Is:
(byte)a = b >> 8;really a basic concept? I didn't even use it befor writing intermediate graphics apps? I´m just a developerr And I love like my work I don´t mind the money at all I see lots of new faces And lots of bad cases of Folks with bad taste. But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life, To keep me from going dot * And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away I can highlight your bad code I can laugh at your jokes I can watch you fall down on your knees I can terminate your apps I can gas up my car I can pack up and mail in the key But I need four screens around me To hold on to my life To keep me from going away Now the banter fills the air In the board rooms during my review And i´m thinking ´bout Where i´d rather be But I burned all my bridges I sank all ships and I´m stranded at the edge of the shell prompt But I need eight gig's and 2 cpu's To hold on to my life To keep me from going away And a computer Budda To watch me at night To keep me from slipping away X|Awww! My eyes! My eyes! My brain! I'm meeeeltiiiiing... Too much geekyness? :-D When you write a poem about something (or even copy-paste it from somewhere else), you just gotta know you're a fanatic of the subject in the poem, which in this case is also called "a geek". Ever played Portal, BTW? At the end there's a really neat song about a geeky female computer that does science and experiments on people. Your poem sort of reminded me of that. C'mon! Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. :laugh: Another thought: maybe you should stick to poetry. :doh:
(byte)a = b << 8;sort of makes sense for me, in case you wanted a quick way to divide b by 2^8, and if b were not a char, OR if you wanted to get bits 7-15 of an x-bit variable, where x is a power of 2 greater than 16. Sorry to say this, but you're just a geek on this one. (i.e., as advertised on TV)modified on Monday, July 6, 2009 10:01 AM
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Haha! :laugh: The code was ambigious (I have seen things like this on BrainBench, esp. the core Java and C#). The poety is a rendition of Trish Yerwood's 'Bartender Blues'. Guess I just go with the absolute of 'Let the compiler sort it out'.
TheArchitectualizer wrote:
f 'Let the compiler sort it out'.
So you've discovered a compiler with working intention prediction? There is no excuse for writing ambiguous code. Maintainers should be permitted to poke the original author of crap like this with sharp sticks. In a month you wont remember what it was that you really meant. What happens when the vendor decides the compiler implementation was non-standard/wrong and changes how this compiles in a new version?
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TheArchitectualizer wrote:
f 'Let the compiler sort it out'.
So you've discovered a compiler with working intention prediction? There is no excuse for writing ambiguous code. Maintainers should be permitted to poke the original author of crap like this with sharp sticks. In a month you wont remember what it was that you really meant. What happens when the vendor decides the compiler implementation was non-standard/wrong and changes how this compiles in a new version?
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Awww! My eyes! My eyes! My brain! I'm meeeeltiiiiing... Too much geekyness? :-D When you write a poem about something (or even copy-paste it from somewhere else), you just gotta know you're a fanatic of the subject in the poem, which in this case is also called "a geek". Ever played Portal, BTW? At the end there's a really neat song about a geeky female computer that does science and experiments on people. Your poem sort of reminded me of that. C'mon! Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. :laugh: Another thought: maybe you should stick to poetry. :doh:
(byte)a = b << 8;sort of makes sense for me, in case you wanted a quick way to divide b by 2^8, and if b were not a char, OR if you wanted to get bits 7-15 of an x-bit variable, where x is a power of 2 greater than 16. Sorry to say this, but you're just a geek on this one. (i.e., as advertised on TV)modified on Monday, July 6, 2009 10:01 AM
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Other than the ability to briefly explain an "incorrect" answer, I had no opportunity to discuss the problems with the test with the recruiter.
yeah, right, like that would have made a difference most i know would be like talking to a rock- i said most! not all - i do know a handful of decent ones