SPUG: PERL technical interview

[JD Brennan]

That is a great question.  And there's probably no one
correct answer.  My answer would be working code,
since optimized code that doesn't work and correct
code that doesn't work has less business value than
working code.

JD

On 1/23/06, Randy Rue <rrue at fhcrc.org> wrote:
>
> Great question, and of course the short answer is "It depends."
>
> Years before I ever heard the project management term "triple
> constraint" a contractor friend of mine (contractor like hammer and
> nails and a white pickup truck, not like dev-for-hire) asked me if I
> wanted the job done "fast, cheap, or right, pick any two." I've never
> heard the concept explained better since.
>
> So the answer to "which comes first" depends on the situation and the
> priorities of the consumer. Is this app a heavy resource user? Tune it.
> Is it expected to be in use for a long time and maintained by baboons?
> Make it correct, avoid cryptic shortcuts, and comment the bejeezus out
> of it. Are we all fired if it's not running by noon? Fix it now!
>
> Assuming no constraints? Make it correct, even if it means getting not
> it working as quickly. Get it working. Then see about tuning it.
>
> My unsolicited $0.02.
>
> Randy Rue
>
>
>
> Fred Morris wrote:
>   > The interview question I haven't been asked lately...
> >
> > Which comes first:
> >
> > * optimization
> > * correctness
> > * working code
> >
> >
> > At 11:04 PM 1/21/06, Creede Lambard wrote:
> >
> >>Come up with a good way to reverse a string. I get asked that about two
> out
> >>of three interviews, it seems like. Oh, and no one seems to like
> >>
> >> print join ('', reverse( split (//, $string)));
> >>
> >>which seems unfair to me. I mean, if they're going to expect me to use
> Perl,
> >>I should be able to use Perl, not use Perl in a particular way they
> mandate
> >>(they seem to always want something that uses substr). [...]
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Fred Morris
> >
> >
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