Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!utcsri!flaps
From: flaps@utcsri.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: weird c code/ c test
Message-ID: <5192@utcsri.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Aug-87 13:34:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsri.5192
Posted: Wed Aug  5 13:34:53 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Aug-87 05:31:27 EDT
References: <1089@gilsys.UUCP>
Reply-To: flaps@utcsri.UUCP (Alan J Rosenthal)
Organization: University of Toronto
Lines: 54
Keywords: test, employment, weird, code, pointers
Xref: utgpu comp.lang.c:3309 misc.jobs.misc:358
Summary: 


In article <1089@gilsys.UUCP> mc68020@gilsys.UUCP (Thomas J Keller) writes:
>   I just had a strange experience today.  I went to see a head hunter about
>an opening she wanted me to consider, and she popped this "C test" on me.
>...

>#include	<stdio.h>
Huh?  Not used in the program below.

>char *c[] = { "ENTER", "NEW", "POINT", "FIRST" };
[etc]

>main()
>{
    [unbelievable garbage with pointers, prints "POINTER STEW\n"]
>}

Well, I made a mistake working it out near the end, but I wasn't being
very careful.  I _did_ get all the precedence right without looking it up,
though.  But, really this program should be written as:

main()
{
    printf("POINTER STEW\n");
}

or even better without a program as simply
    alias <whatever> echo POINTER STEW


Since you mention it, I had an interesting test at a job I applied for
just this very morning.  They asked what the output from the following
program would be:

main()
{
    printf("%s\n",0x637F3A0);
}

You see, at that address in their machines the string "POINTER STEW\n"
was invariably stored.  Fortunately I had just been reading comp.lang.c
so I got it right.  Actually, the main problem with this program was
that they missed the cast, it should have been "(char *)0x637F3A0".


-- 

      //  Alan J Rosenthal
     //
 \\ //        flaps@csri.toronto.edu, {seismo!utai or utzoo}!utcsri!flaps,
  \//              flaps@toronto on csnet, flaps at utorgpu on bitnet.


"To be whole is to be part; true voyage is return."