Samuel's HQ » Alphabet Interview

alphabet version 3

samuel — Sat, 19 May 2007 17:32:50 +0000

Third answer to my alphabet question:

#include 
 
void main ()
{
    char Array[26] = { 'a', 'b', ... 'z'};
 
    int i;
 
    for (i = 0; i <= 26; i++)
    {
        printf(%c\\n, *Array[i]);
    }
    exit;
}

Download this code: alphabet_3.c

There is no typo in the transcript. What do you think? Is my question ‘too hard’? Is it not ‘appropriate’ for a ‘C’ developer position?

alphabet version 2

samuel — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:34:25 +0000

Second answer… again, there is no typo, this is the pure transcript of the candidate’s answer.

main(argc, argv[])
{
    int i = 0;
    char a[26] = { 'a', 'b', 'c', ...'z'}
 
    for (i = 0; i <=26; i++)
    {
        printf("%d/n", a[i]%);
    }
    return;
}

Download this code: alphabet_2.c

With this question, I’m realizing that array usage in C, is clearly not clear for everyone.

alphabet version 1

samuel — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:32:09 +0000

First answer to my alphabet question:

void printAlphabet(void)
{
    char a[21];
 
    for (i = 0; i <26; i++)
    {
        if (i == 0)
        {
            a[i] = 'a';
        }
        else
        {
            a[i] = a[i - 1]++;
        }
    }
    a[26] = '\\0';
    printf("alphabet %s\\n", a);
}

Download this code: alphabet_1.c

This might print the alphabet… but it will crash… I recopy the program as is… there is no typo from my side.

After this question, I asked more questions on how to use array in C. This person was terribly confused on how to use array in C.

My Alphabet question for interview

samuel — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:01:08 +0000

Part of my job is to sometimes give interviews for people we want to hire. One of my favorite question is to ask the person to write a problem that will print the alphabet on the console. So let’s say I have a c file my_program.c, I want to be able to compile it, execute, and get the alphabet on the console. Something like: $./my_program a b c ... z
I really like this question as I think it’s easy enough to know if the person is able to write a simple program in C. I will post here the several code I got… and sometimes it’s really surprising.

What do you think about the question? Do you think it’s a dumb question? Is it too hard/easy?