C# interview question

[Gentile]

Found this.

I assume you're not writing this sort of stuff, so definitely a knobhead interviewer.

I missed your link earlier, k2p2. I fully agree with the predominant views expressed by the contributors to that Stack Overflow discussion.

[louie]

I don't need to imagine it. The test harness I mentioned earlier did exactly that.

Gentile, I missed you post, I apologise. I suppose the C# compiler is mature enough to have optimized these differences out. On a general note having knowledge of a few different languages so you can drop down to C for these cases when performance is key is a great advantage. Having many tools in the box as they say.

[Gentile]

Gentile, I missed you post, I apologise. I suppose the C# compiler is mature enough to have optimized these differences out. On a general note having knowledge of a few different languages so you can drop down to C for these cases when performance is key is a great advantage. Having many tools in the box as they say.

Thank you. I've no doubt that these skills can still be used in very discrete applications (say, somewhere that you're constrained to use really old hardware with limited memory for some reason - maybe in a legacy piece of military hardware where the cost of replacing the infrastructure would be more than the cost of getting new kit, for example). However, as this thread is specifically about C# development, I think it's extremely unlikely the interviewer had a practical reason for asking the question, or that C# would be used for that type of legacy support. I could be wrong, but that's my impression given the way C# is actually used in practice.

[louie]

Thank you. I've no doubt that these skills can still be used in very discrete applications (say, somewhere that you're constrained to use really old hardware with limited memory for some reason - maybe in a legacy piece of military hardware where the cost of replacing the infrastructure would be more than the cost of getting new kit, for example). However, as this thread is specifically about C# development, I think it's extremely unlikely the interviewer had a practical reason for asking the question, or that C# would be used for that type of legacy support. I could be wrong, but that's my impression given the way C# is actually used in practice.

Yeah I agree, however the thread had moved on with the car analogy post (which I responded to) and whether it's an advantage to have knowledge of the lower level details. If I have taken the thread off topic I apologise.

[NickFitz]

…bitshifting left on an integer value has the same outcome as multiplying by a factor of two?

Power of two, surely? 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256…

…a good driver…

Is there an equivalent of Godwin's Law stating that all discussions of programming end up using a motor car analogy?

[Gentile]

Is there an equivalent of Godwin's Law stating that all discussions of programming end up using a motor car analogy?

Hasn't it become Reverse-Godwin's Law now, where if you reference Godwin without addressing the substance of a valid point you instantly lose all credibility.

[NickFitz]

Hasn't it become Reverse-Godwin's Law now, where if you reference Godwin without addressing the substance of a valid point you instantly lose all credibility.

Use-mention distinction

[Gentile]

Use-mention distinction

Yes, and you were in the "use" rather than "mention" camp there.

If nothing else, this aside is a pretty good example of the endless and inappropriately-applied minutiae you invariably get bogged down with if you make the mistake of engaging the services of developer that would actually consider using the Shift operator in C# production code.

[NickFitz]

Yes, and you were in the "use" rather than "mention" camp there.

Not at all:

Is there an equivalent of Godwin's Law…

Clearly a mention of it rather than an invocation

[Gentile]

Not at all:



Clearly a mention of it rather than an invocation

It's at this point in the interview I'd be thanking you for your time, smiling whilst gesturing towards the door, and letting you know that we'd be in touch in a day or two to let you know the outcome. I'd be hoping that the next candidate in would be more able to focus on getting results with C# than on philosophy and nit-picking semantics.