Funny interview question
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Hi guys Today we were interviewing some candidates for some programmer jobs. My boss suggested a few interview questions to us and one of them was this :- Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++ Hmmmm, now what kinda question is that? Would it be a proper test of a candidate? As for me I was confused for a while till I thought of type safety in C++. I haven't tried it out but I presume that if we do some unsafe type casting it'll be valid in C but invalid in C++. What do ya guys think? Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Absolutely useless question, if you ask me. What if the guy started in C++ bypassing "C"? Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
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Hi guys Today we were interviewing some candidates for some programmer jobs. My boss suggested a few interview questions to us and one of them was this :- Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++ Hmmmm, now what kinda question is that? Would it be a proper test of a candidate? As for me I was confused for a while till I thought of type safety in C++. I haven't tried it out but I presume that if we do some unsafe type casting it'll be valid in C but invalid in C++. What do ya guys think? Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
this doesn't compile under c++ http://www.codeproject.com/lounge.asp?msg=300626#xx300626xx[^] [edit] Though I think answering that question with "Why?" would be a fairly valid answer :-D [/edit] [edit2] This reminds me of a question that a computer science lecturer once asked in a tutorial - "If a computer program takes no input, and produces no output, how can you be certain that it has run correctly?" (to which the answer he was waiting for was "what is the point of a program that takes no input and provides no output?" [/edit2] -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!
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Hi guys Today we were interviewing some candidates for some programmer jobs. My boss suggested a few interview questions to us and one of them was this :- Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++ Hmmmm, now what kinda question is that? Would it be a proper test of a candidate? As for me I was confused for a while till I thought of type safety in C++. I haven't tried it out but I presume that if we do some unsafe type casting it'll be valid in C but invalid in C++. What do ya guys think? Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Nishant S wrote: Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++
int main()
{
#ifdef __cplusplus
this is such bad syntax
#endif
return 0;
}:laugh: Jeremy Falcon Imputek "Oh no there was a knife in that kitchen drawer and I cut myself - please remove the kitchen." - David Wulff
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The task was opposite: to write a valid C program that will not compile in C++. "this" is not a valid "C" keyword. Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
No, that's exactly what I did. My code is valid C but it will not compile under C++ because it uses a C++ keyword as a variable. :confused: You can just as easily write:
main()
{
int private=1, protected=1, mutable=1;
}and so on. All valid C since none of those are reserved words. --Mike-- Just released - 1ClickPicGrabber - Grab & organize pictures from your favorite web pages, with 1 click! My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm
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Hi guys Today we were interviewing some candidates for some programmer jobs. My boss suggested a few interview questions to us and one of them was this :- Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++ Hmmmm, now what kinda question is that? Would it be a proper test of a candidate? As for me I was confused for a while till I thought of type safety in C++. I haven't tried it out but I presume that if we do some unsafe type casting it'll be valid in C but invalid in C++. What do ya guys think? Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Might get some interesting answers! :-D
The following statement about your geekness is true. The previous statement about your geekness is false.
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Nishant S wrote: What do ya guys think? Stupid question and us interviewee's, subjected to mind game questions should be able to physically beat interviewer's that ask crap like this half to death. ;P ...and if you wondering it's 1 months tomorrow. Michael Martin Australia mjm68@tpg.com.au "I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end." - Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
Heh, that reminds me of how I felt when I got the question "what's the difference between a macro and an inline function?" I got this at Microsoft. I guess the interviewer thought I'd been able to get through two phone interviews without letting it slip that I don't actually know C++ well enough to know the difference. X| --Mike-- Just released - 1ClickPicGrabber - Grab & organize pictures from your favorite web pages, with 1 click! My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm
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Might get some interesting answers! :-D
The following statement about your geekness is true. The previous statement about your geekness is false.
Megan Forbes wrote: Might get some interesting answers! But I never asked a question :-( Just stated a funny incident and then everyone goes angry and start asking me what good it does :-( Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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No, that's exactly what I did. My code is valid C but it will not compile under C++ because it uses a C++ keyword as a variable. :confused: You can just as easily write:
main()
{
int private=1, protected=1, mutable=1;
}and so on. All valid C since none of those are reserved words. --Mike-- Just released - 1ClickPicGrabber - Grab & organize pictures from your favorite web pages, with 1 click! My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm
Sorry, you're right of course! Silly me X| Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
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Megan Forbes wrote: Might get some interesting answers! But I never asked a question :-( Just stated a funny incident and then everyone goes angry and start asking me what good it does :-( Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
sorry - I meant some of the people be interviewed might give you some cool answers to the C / C++ code question that would be worth sharing :cool:
The following statement about your geekness is true. The previous statement about your geekness is false.
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Nishant S wrote: What do ya guys think? Stupid question and us interviewee's, subjected to mind game questions should be able to physically beat interviewer's that ask crap like this half to death. ;P ...and if you wondering it's 1 months tomorrow. Michael Martin Australia mjm68@tpg.com.au "I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end." - Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
Michael Martin wrote: ...and if you wondering it's 1 months tomorrow. 11 rather :-( Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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Michael Dunn wrote: Seems rather silly as an interview question, though. Jus what I thought (anyway I had tons of other stuff to ask which made more sense to me) Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
You should rather ask him whether he knows CodeProject.com. If he/she doesn't, I would recommend NOT taking him. If he answers "YES of course", ask him whether he is a member, and only take him if his member ID is less than 50000. -- Scanned MSDN Mag ad with YOUR name: www.magerquark.de/misc/CodeProject.html See me: www.magerquark.de
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Megan Forbes wrote: Might get some interesting answers! But I never asked a question :-( Just stated a funny incident and then everyone goes angry and start asking me what good it does :-( Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
The interview result might be quite funny: a developer A is given a job because his program did not compile. Developer's program compiled unfortuntely, so he's not got a job. An exceptional case where you have to show your skills in writing a program that does not compile. :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
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You should rather ask him whether he knows CodeProject.com. If he/she doesn't, I would recommend NOT taking him. If he answers "YES of course", ask him whether he is a member, and only take him if his member ID is less than 50000. -- Scanned MSDN Mag ad with YOUR name: www.magerquark.de/misc/CodeProject.html See me: www.magerquark.de
Uwe Keim wrote: You should rather ask him whether he knows CodeProject.com. If he/she doesn't, I would recommend NOT taking him. The problem is that only an elite minority have regular internet access in Trivandrum. Forget regular, I wonder how many people even manage to chk mail at least once a week! This is the "3rd" word Uwe and Trivandrum is a rather 3rd worldish 3rd world city. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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The interview result might be quite funny: a developer A is given a job because his program did not compile. Developer's program compiled unfortuntely, so he's not got a job. An exceptional case where you have to show your skills in writing a program that does not compile. :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
Well, most people I interviewed today wouldn't write a 15 line program (C or C++) without making 20 errors. I was horrified by the lack of quality in the candidates :-( Things are really bad now I guess! Everyone is doing Java and C# nowadays. Too few C++ coders left on this planet! Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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Hi guys Today we were interviewing some candidates for some programmer jobs. My boss suggested a few interview questions to us and one of them was this :- Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++ Hmmmm, now what kinda question is that? Would it be a proper test of a candidate? As for me I was confused for a while till I thought of type safety in C++. I haven't tried it out but I presume that if we do some unsafe type casting it'll be valid in C but invalid in C++. What do ya guys think? Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Trivia should not be included in interview questions.
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The task was opposite: to write a valid C program that will not compile in C++. "this" is not a valid "C" keyword. Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
Vagif Abilov wrote: "this" is not a valid "C" keyword. Exactly the point. Because "this" is not a C keyword it can be used as an identifier so his prog will compile as a C program and not as a C++ program
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You should rather ask him whether he knows CodeProject.com. If he/she doesn't, I would recommend NOT taking him. If he answers "YES of course", ask him whether he is a member, and only take him if his member ID is less than 50000. -- Scanned MSDN Mag ad with YOUR name: www.magerquark.de/misc/CodeProject.html See me: www.magerquark.de
If his/her/its member ID is under 100 then he/she/it must be a genius then! ;P
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Well, most people I interviewed today wouldn't write a 15 line program (C or C++) without making 20 errors. I was horrified by the lack of quality in the candidates :-( Things are really bad now I guess! Everyone is doing Java and C# nowadays. Too few C++ coders left on this planet! Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Nishant S wrote: Everyone is doing Java and C# nowadays. Too few C++ coders left on this planet! I'm pretty sure there are more C++ programmers than C# guys. And probably more C/C++ programmers than Java/C# together. Could it be that it was just C++ guys making 20 errors? :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
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Nishant S wrote: Everyone is doing Java and C# nowadays. Too few C++ coders left on this planet! I'm pretty sure there are more C++ programmers than C# guys. And probably more C/C++ programmers than Java/C# together. Could it be that it was just C++ guys making 20 errors? :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
Vagif Abilov wrote: Could it be that it was just C++ guys making 20 errors? Hmmmm, could be true. I guess it'd be better for everyone if fellows like that took up C# or Java Nish :)
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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Hi guys Today we were interviewing some candidates for some programmer jobs. My boss suggested a few interview questions to us and one of them was this :- Write a valid C program that would not comopile under C++ Hmmmm, now what kinda question is that? Would it be a proper test of a candidate? As for me I was confused for a while till I thought of type safety in C++. I haven't tried it out but I presume that if we do some unsafe type casting it'll be valid in C but invalid in C++. What do ya guys think? Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
I agree it is a really stupid question, BUT if someone can answer it on the spot , you've got a winner !! IMO, the *main* thing to check in an interview is attitude. BTW: How about this ?
file a.c -------- // This trivial program has no statements // C cant deal with '//' style comments