spinoza1111wrote:
On Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:22:53 -0700,spinoza1111wrote: [...]
5. What will this piece (snippet) of C code print to the screen?
printf("Hello World");
Since C doesn't define a screen - or require one - there's no expectation
that any output will be sent to "the screen", which may not exist at
all. Further, there is neither an \n or an fflush(stdout) involved, so
there may not be any output *at all*.
Use your common sense and don't be a smart ass. This type of literal
hermeneutics destroys both charity and communication.
Having worked on hardware that would not output _anything_ until getting a
complete line of text, I fail to see how his hermeneutic interpretation has
destroyed anything.
Working on incompetently designed hardware doesn't impress me, son. I
started out, remember, on the IBM 1401, which was a piece of shit out
of the box.
[...]
Use your common sense. What was your score?
Obviously 100%, since the answerer's "common sense" tells him so.
Whatever happened to the very idea that programming ability was partly
or wholly expressed in the ability to understand and to explain?
"Understand", yes. "Explain", I don't think was ever involved in the equation.
However, how does one "understand" ambiguous questions when more than one
answer is "correct"? How does one "understand" improperly worded questions
where no answer is "correct"?
You choose the best answer. That's how I got the highest verbal SAT in
the history of my school.
I'm tired of all this libertarian whining about tests here. Are you
even aware that tests were developed in France as part of the "career
open to talents" as opposed to careers open to sacks of shit in silk
stockings? Of course you aren't, and your libertarianism will return
us to the dark ages.
A test MUST be fair to all takers. For this reason, it shouldn't cater
to your narrow vision of reality as formed by one series of piece of
shit machines. Instead it must use the widest and most common
understanding of words in which #include is a "command", not some
garden gnome techie's private language.
Can you do these analogies? Betcha hate analogy questions!
C++ is to C as (choose the BEST answer):
A C is to BCPL
B C is to Algol
C Algol 68 is to Algol 60
D The Space Shuttle is to the Apollo
E Linux is to Unix
++i is to i++ as
A i++ is to ++i
B i+=1; return i; is to j=i; i+=1; return j;
C --i is to i--
D Chalk is to cheese
E Undefined! Undefined! Yog Sothoth! Ungll ungll crcchhhh....
#DEFINE a(b,c) b=c; is to #DEFINE a(b,c) b = c;
A #DEFINE a(b,c) b=c; is to #DEFINE a(b,c) (b) = (c);
B Tweedledum is to tweedledee
C #DEFINE a 1 is to #DEFINE b 1
Edward Nilges is to Richard Heathfield as
A Hyperion to a satyr
B Chalk is to cheese
C Toast is to tea
D Acid is to alklai
Rob Pike is to Edsger Dijkstra as
A Bob Cratchit to Ebenezer Scrooge
B Abelard to Heloise
C Ruysdael is to Rembrandt
D Chalk is to cheese
long long int is to long int as
A Three is to one
B Four is to one
C Sex is to fun
D Two is to one
Answer key below. No peeking!
C: as in "a brave but ultimately unsuccessful elaboration"
B: as in "the most sensible answer. Render unto me a break."
B: as in "white space matters not except inside quoted literals"
A: as in Hamlet
C: as in a second-rate grinder out of landscapes to a world class
artist
D: as in 32: 64
