By admin | February 19, 2007
This is a list of interview puzzles used at Google.
You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?
Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?
What method would you use to look up a word in a dictionary? Read More »
By admin | February 12, 2007
SQL
SQL is an English like language consisting of commands to store, retrieve, maintain & regulate access to your database.
SQL*Plus
SQL*Plus is an application that recognizes & executes SQL commands & specialized SQL*Plus commands that can customize reports, provide help & edit facility & maintain system variables. Read More »
By admin | January 18, 2007
1. What is XML?
XML is the Extensible Markup Language. It improves the functionality
of the Web by letting you identify your information in a more accurate,
flexible, and adaptable way. It is extensible because it is not
a fixed format like HTML (which is a single, predefined markup language).
Instead, XML is actually a meta languageâ€â€a language for describing
other languagesâ€â€which lets you design your own markup languages
for limitless different types of documents. XML can do this because
it’s written in SGML, the international standard meta language for
text document markup (ISO 8879).
2. What is a markup language?
A markup language is a set of words and symbols for describing
the identity of pieces of a document (for example ‘this is
a paragraph’, ‘this is a heading’, ‘this
is a list’, ‘this is the caption of this figure’,
etc). Programs can use this with a style sheet to create output
for screen, print, audio, video, Braille, etc.
Read More »
Posted in General, Web dev |
By admin | January 10, 2007
1. Why so JavaScript and Java have similar name?
A. JavaScript is a stripped-down version of Java
B. JavaScript's syntax is loosely based on Java's
C. They both originated on the island of Java
D. None of the above
2. When a user views a page containing a JavaScript program, which machine actually executes the script?
A. The User's machine running a Web browser
B. The Web server
C. A central machine deep within Netscape's corporate offices
D. None of the above
Read More »
By admin | December 31, 2006
Implementing itoa function is a popular interview question. Here’s one implementation from SAP.
char *itoa(int value)
{
int count, /* number of characters in string */
i, /* loop control variable */
sign; /* determine if the value is negative */
char *ptr, /* temporary pointer, index into string */
*string, /* return value */
*temp; /* temporary string array */
count = 0;
if ((sign = value) < 0) /* assign value to sign, if negative */
{ /* keep track and invert value */
value = -value;
count++; /* increment count */
}
/* allocate INTSIZE plus 2 bytes (sign and NULL) */
temp = (char *) malloc(INTSIZE + 2);
if (temp == NULL)
{
return(NULL);
}
memset(temp,'\0', INTSIZE + 2);
string = (char *) malloc(INTSIZE + 2);
if (string == NULL)
{
return(NULL);
}
memset(string,'\0', INTSIZE + 2);
ptr = string; /* set temporary ptr to string */
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NOTE: This process reverses the order of an integer, ie: |
| value = -1234 equates to: char [4321-] |
| Reorder the values using for {} loop below |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------*/
do {
*temp++ = value % 10 + '0'; /* obtain modulus and or with '0' */
count++; /* increment count, track iterations*/
} while (( value /= 10) >0);
if (sign < 0) /* add '-' when sign is negative */
*temp++ = '-';
*temp-- = '\0'; /* ensure null terminated and point */
/* to last char in array */
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| reorder the resulting char *string: |
| temp - points to the last char in the temporary array |
| ptr - points to the first element in the string array |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------*/
for (i = 0; i < count; i++, temp--, ptr++)
{
memcpy(ptr,temp,sizeof(char));
}
return(string);
}
By admin | December 31, 2006
Frequently a question of the programs printing out their own output appears in code interviews. The question does not really test a skill of a programmer, as much as general awareness of tricks to do that. The quine page by Gary Thompson provides many examples of such applications in various languages. In case you were wondering, a program whose output is its own source code is called a quine, something that might come of use over the next interview. The aforementioned Quine Page lists the following example for C:
char*f="char*f=%c%s%c;main()
{printf(f,34,f,34,10);}%c";
main(){printf(f,34,f,34,10);}
One language that’s missing, however, is PHP. In PHP a helpful function and __FILE__ constant allow for this quick hack:
echo file_get_contents(__FILE__);