
(Linux, JAVA, SQL, PHP, C++, C, JS) programming quizzes, questions and answers - xquizzes
http://xquizzes.com/programming/PHP
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graycat
Oops, sorry, guys: Apparently that "quiz" doesn't apply to everyone who does
serious programming.

E.g.,I decided to base the software for my startup on Windows instead of
Linux.

Why Windows? One source for nearly everything in software I need except what I
have to write, my favorite editor and scripting language, Knuth's TeX, and
Firefox! So, I get Windows XP and now 7, Windows Server of whatever years, old
copies of Office and PhotoDraw (good enough for my purposes), SQL Server, IIS
(Web site front end), .NET, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, huge on-line Microsoft
documentation, in most of the really important ways really well written, lots
of books and fora, lots of expert users, and, surprisingly, if have a really
good question, then some good on-line support from experts from Microsoft, for
free.

For a compiled programming language on Windows it seemed that I had basically
just two choices, C# and the .NET version of Visual Basic. So, which one?
Well, first-cut, the two are nearly equivalent, that is, offer essentially the
same access to the .NET Framework and the common language runtime (CLR). So,
really, the main difference is just in _syntactic sugar_.

Well for the _sugar_ part, C# seems to borrow the sparse, obscure,
deliberately _idiosyncratic_ syntax of C, and I don't like that, regard it as
inefficient, for coding -- writing, reading, or teaching. Visual Basic has a
more traditional flavor of _sugar_ I like much better for writing, reading,
and teaching. So, I selected Visual Basic.

For JS, ASP.NET writes a little for me, but so far for my Web pages and
everything else I have yet to write a single line of JS.

For C, I've programmed in it and have a little of it from open source in my
project and otherwise regard it as walking or riding a bicycle instead of
driving a car.

SQL? Sure: I'm using SQL Server. But so far my SQL queries have all been quite
simple. So, I've learned what SQL I needed but likely couldn't pass a good
test on SQL. I have a plenty good enough background in the _theory_ and
intentions of relational database, e.g., from one of Ullman's books, and will
dig into more complicated SQL statements as needed.

So, net, my software development is significant and doing just fine, but for
that "quiz" I'd be lucky to get 10%. So, the quiz is not a good evaluation of
everyone doing serious software!

~~~
arsenide
Are you saying that you develop on Windows and did not take the Linux quiz
because getting a low score implies you are not a "significant" software
developer?

This does not seem to be a tool to merely judge you as a developer. Rather, it
acts as a tool to determine syntax understanding, and to possibly point out
new things one may not be aware of. Much more important than assigning a
number to a skill.

~~~
graycat
> determine syntax understanding

I didn't start in programming with Windows and Visual Basic .NET. Not nearly.
Instead, I've programmed far too many things that with bits and used a wide
variety of examples of syntax, BNF, lexical scan, parsing, etc. Lots of it.
E.g., I got quite good with PL/I and made contributions to its AI extension
KnowledgeTool, and some of the syntax there is advanced stuff. E.g., just the
scope of names rules and the difference between dynamic and static descendancy
are nice, useful, and a bit intricate.

I've invented and implemented new syntax.

To me the quiz looked like just a test of _skills_ with nothing more of
significance to be learned.

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northrup
Some of the linux questions are flat out wrong or lack appropriate scope. i.e.
a question about removing packages lists the only appropriate answer as "rpm
-e"; in another about common ports it lists DNS as "23", which is telnet and
DNS is on 53. Thanks but no thanks, I think I'll craft my own questions and
answers.

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pnt12
I am positively impressed by the difficulty of the Linux questions.

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Gibbon1
Size of a void* is two bytes? really?

