Ted Roche wrote:
The Boston Computer News Network was an email newsletter sent out by the
Xbase Special Interest Group of the Boston Computer Society. Les Pinter,
the organizer of that group, commissioned a group of local volunteers to
come out with a FoxPro-specific version of the newsletters. The timing
was great; MS had just bought Fox, VFP 3 was coming, DevCons were
awesome. Here are the first few newsletters, recovered from an old dusty
cave in the frozen northeast, scraped off an old 3½″ floppy.
http://www.tedroche.com/papers.php#1994
Some classic stuff out there for old geezers: Arnold Bilansky facing
down Bill Gates, the first demo of VFP3 beta in Boston, Arnold and Ted's
excellent adventures in San Diego, and more. Contributors include Brad
Shulz, Whil Hentzen, Dale Gilstrap Leopold, Ken Levy, Harold Chattaway,
Stephen Sawyer, and more !
Pulled this out of one of the papers. It's a list of interview
questions. Brings back some memories of the time with all those
horrible foundation reads and the like.
Glad I didn't go for a job there ;-)
10. Been Thinking 'bout The Pretender(s)...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ReplyTo: Whil Hentzen [70651,2270]
(with apologies to Jackson Browne)
I've been interviewing of potential employees for a high level
programming position lately. A lot of folk still have a dBASE III
mindset, but label themselves as "experienced FoxPro 2.5 programmers"
simply because they're writing dBASE III code inside FoxPro/Win. It's
easy to spend a lot of time just separating the "pretenders" from the
"contenders" - and time is not one of those abundant resources....
As a result, I put together a set of questions that were designed to
determine where an individual stood on the ladder of FoxPro 2.x
programming proficiency. Note that I chose those words very carefully.
I'm not looking for a developer - but a programmer. And I'm not just
looking for the highest score possible, but rather, I want to
understand the breadth of that individual's skill set so I can better
evaluate the likelihood of their fitting in as a cog in my development
environment's machine.
These questions came about as a result of an evening's discussion at
FoxTeach with, among others, Steven Black and Pat Adams, and then
generated a lengthy thread on FoxGang afterward. The rationale behind
the questions is in brackets behind each question.]
1. Versions of FoxPro. Name three major differences between 2.0 and
2.5. [How long have they been around?]
2. Language - Code a simple Foundation Read. Alternate: How do you get
rid of the Command Window after you've put up a menu? [Are they
still using DO WHILE? Have they even _heard_ of a FR?]
3. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING? Describe how to
implement an outer join in FoxPro. [A blank look here generates the
prompt - "you know, in SQL" - which often leads to a "Oh, I only
use FoxPro commands." And that's what I wanted to know <g>.]
4. Name five FoxPro third party products and what they do. [Do they
insist on inventing everything themselves?]
5. What periodicals do you regularly read? What books have you read?
What else do you do to learn? [Do they understand the availability
of resources available, or do they try to learn it all themselves?]
6. Screen Builder. Describe the tradeoffs of desnippetizing. Where do
you keep your code? Name two valid reasons for modifying the SPR
[Ha! Trick question!]
7. What's the difference between a function and a procedure? [Let's
not forget the basics...]
8. What does this line of code do: private all like j* [Are they
familiar with safe programming techniques?]
9. Describe your naming conventions for tables, fields, variables,
arrays, windows. [A true mark of differentiation between hacks and
professionals.]
10. What technique do you use to integrate browses with READs. [The
best answer here is "Ugh, I can hardly wait until they make it a
true READ object..."]
11. Name each band in the RW and describe when it is executed. [Are
they still hand coding reports? Don't laugh - it happens....]
12. Describe the Transport process. [We do a lot of xplat work - have
they?]
13. Write out a command to find a record that is Rushmore optimizable.
Write one that is not. [Critical to find out if they understand how
to take advantage of FoxPro's speed.]
14. Describe an alternative to PACK, when you'd use the alternative,
and why. [Tells me if they've done any serious multi-user work.]
15. Describe what Set Default and Set Path do. [These are fundamental
concepts in our environment. A lot of programmers still just throw
all the programs and tables in a single directory.]
16. What's the difference between Build Project and Rebuild All. [Have
they ever used the PM? And for what?']
17. Tell me all you know about using Debug. [I _assume_ they've had
bugs in their programs. Do they understand how to go about tracking
them down efficiently?]
Again, this isn't intended to be the ultimate FoxPro certification
test. The purpose is to weed out, over the phone, the amateurs from
those who've a solid foundation of knowledge. I can deal with a few
weak spots; gaping holes, on the other hand, well, I'll let them work
for my competition.
I could go on, but the editor is making those slashing motions across
his neck...
.
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