Thread: need a Brilliant C Programmer to help me solve that Enigma

Ha Ha Ha.

Tim S.

Source: hola! Coding Challenge

Help me try to cheat my way into a job!

Originally Posted by stahta01

Ha Ha Ha.

Tim S.

You mean this is a serious post; I still think it is a joke.

Tim S.

> * more than 7 lines of code per function, and in less than 5 minutes.
Does the maxim "fast, cheap, good - pick any two" apply here, when you've already chosen "fast"?

> * - The code you write needs to be "library quality"; as good as you would
> * expect a good libc to implement such functions.
Where is it documented whether these function return a status, or void ?

The example main() is far too crappy to make any judgement call on this. Either there are no errors allowed, or it just ignores the possibility.

O_o

I'm with Salem.

This isn't a joke. It's just stupid.

To make this work requires making dangerous guesses, using pointless global state, or implementing awful hacks where I'd dismiss anyone with the gall of claiming it was "library quality" when the implied concept is trivial to do safely without any of that mess.

[Edit]
Gah!

I'm so dumb!

The obvious "challenge" here is spotting the stupidity of the thing.

I got it the second time around... where is my 1000?
[/Edit]

Soma

Originally Posted by cdevdev

* GUIDELINES:
* - Look at main(): it calls various functions.
* - You are asked to implement two functions: str_cpy() and str_cat(). No need
* to implement str_printf() and str_free()
* - Reading main() carefully will allow to understand str_cpy() and str_cat()
* signature and usage.
* - The code you write needs to be "library quality"; as good as you would
* expect a good libc to implement such functions.
* - At the top of the page, you see 4 includes - indicating the functions that
* can be used to implement str_cpy() and str_cat().
*
* FYI: it is possible to implement str_cpy() and str_cat() efficiently in no
* more than 7 lines of code per function, and in less than 5 minutes.
*

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdarg.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    char *s = NULL;
    str_cpy(&s, "Hola Hola");
    str_cpy(&s, s+5);
    str_cat(&s, " Mundo");
    str_printf(&s, "%s!", s);
    puts(s); /* result: "Hola Mundo!" */
    str_free(&s);
    return 0;
}

A stupid question deserves a stupid solution:

Make str_cpy and str_cat do absolutely nothing and just return 0. (that's two lines of code)
Make str_printf malloc memory for s and initialize it to Hola Mundo. (that's another 2 lines of code)
Make str_free free s. (that's 1 line of code) Hell, you could even forget about it and leak the f*** hoping it will blow up in the interviewer's/grader's face.

It's efficient it's 5 lines of code in TOTAL and it takes about 60 seconds to write. It also shows what a total dumb challenge this is to begin with.

EDIT: Forgot to add it's also "library quality" as far as the person asking you to do this is concerned.

I studied main carefully, as the directions say. This should pass all the test cases provided.

Code:

/* The spec says that the result of this function is never used, so it's a NOP */
void str_cpy(char **s, const char *dummy)
{
}

/* The spec says that this function should allocate space for and copy the string
 * "Hola Mundo" in s. */
void str_cat(char **s, const char *dummy)
{
  *s = strdup("Hola Mundo");
}

What do I win?