Tue, 15 Mar 2005
There is a band named The Internet
posted at: 17:56 | path: /music | permanent link to this entry
Thu, 10 Mar 2005
A graphical interface for Ices, an Internet radio encoder
posted at: 16:09 | path: /hacking | permanent link to this entry
Wed, 09 Mar 2005
I got a good lesson in programming 101 today. I applied for a job at a place which has a rather large commercial site that transacts exchanges of money between third parties. Like PayPal but more specialized. They were (I say were cause I'm sure I didn't get the job) looking for a standard database + php + css programmer. Instead of the usual interview where I'm talking a lot, they gave me a test. I don't think I passed the test. For posterity, here are the questions: First they wanted me to write some CSS from memory for a two column layout. The leftmost column was about 75% of the total width. It was obviously a trick question but the answer they were looking for was to make the top level div be relatively positioned, while the containing divs were absolutely positioned within. This assured that the rightmost column would never fall below the leftmost. The second was a textbook example of a SQL multiple join. I had read the linked article one week prior but because I have never used this process I failed this question miserably. They were understanding and told me that they got the question from a test for a DBA position where 9 out of 10 applicants got it wrong. Joins are cool because they create a temporary table for the sole purpose of joining information from the main table. It is clean because it bypasses the need for any clever glue scripting and handles all the data within the database, which is where it should be. The third was some object oriented PHP code which created a class and two member functions. I had to tell them the number the final function call returned. On the surface it looked like they were just adding some numbers but in reality they were calling the function within the function definition. They wanted to see if I could eyeball recursion. I couldn't but of course I saw it after they explained it to me. All in all it was a good assessment of my real programming skills. I clearly understood all of the concepts they asked of me, I have read about them a lot and probably used them once or twice. Unfortunately I don't program code below a user interface that much so I couldn't deliver what they wanted, which was someone who could eyeball simple CSS, SQL and PHP and explain what it's doing right off the bat with no reference. The positive thing I did get out of the interview was I felt confident explaining my process and getting answers from those who are more experienced than me. It's only a matter of time before I am the one who gets the answers right regardless of their pedagogical nature.posted at: 02:28 | path: /hacking | permanent link to this entry
