With all due respect to the Anonymous, if you can't work your way through this problem on your own, I feel for the person who must prove their own value to you. Rephrased, "if you had a half hour to come up with some interview puzzles, how would you develop or research these materials?" In my view, interview questions are not to be doled out by the shovelful. You should decide what are the desirable characteristics of an applicant for the position, and then probe applicants according to those issues.

When I have taught C, a quick assignment was for the student to derive the implementation of each of the strcmp(), strtok() and strncpy() functions, complete with O-notation and any shortcomings in unexpected data inputs. I have even asked the same of applicants. Why? Because I'd seen a pattern of CompSci graduates who had no practical understanding of pointer arithmetic, working to a rigid spec, deriving behavior from example, and the inherent dangers of data assumptions.

--
[ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

In reply to Re: Logic questions needed by halley
in thread Logic questions needed by Anonymous Monk

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