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From: mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: weird c code/ c test
Message-ID: <858@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Aug-87 04:24:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: mcgill-v.858
Posted: Sat Aug  8 04:24:21 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Aug-87 02:00:51 EDT
References: <1089@gilsys.UUCP>
Organization: McGill University, Montreal
Lines: 35
Keywords: test, employment, weird, code, pointers
Xref: utgpu comp.lang.c:3523 misc.jobs.misc:384

In article <1089@gilsys.UUCP>, mc68020@gilsys.UUCP (Thomas J Keller) writes:
[ headhunter who popped a C test, last question of which asks what the
  output of this program is: ]

> #include	<stdio.h>
> char *c[] = { "ENTER", "NEW", "POINT", "FIRST", };
> char **cp[] = { c+3, c+2, c+1, c };
> char ***cpp = cp;
[in mc68020's posting, this was "char ****cpp"; presumably *** is right]
> main()
> {   printf("%s", **++cpp);
>     printf("%s ", *--*++cpp+3);
>     printf("%s", *cpp[-2]+3);
>     printf("%s\n", cpp[-1][-1]+1);
> }

> I do question this as a test, however.  That is some pretty esoteric
> pointer manipulation there!  What do you think?

What do I think?  I think the headhunter has read the C Puzzle Book and
decided it'd be a good test for aspiring C programmers to lift a few
questions.  (I can't be certain, because I read the book a long time
ago, but the strings of the c array sound familiar, and the output
matches.)

I think it is not a particularly relevant question.  All it tests is
your ability to follow instructions by rote, since I doubt anyone would
do this except by keeping track of all the pointers the way the machine
would.  If I were hiring a C programmer, I doubt I would want this sort
of robot.  Nor, were I job-hunting, would I want to work to work for
someone who wanted such a robot.

					der Mouse

				(mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp)