C++ interview questions

1. In C++, what is the difference between method overloading and

method overriding?Overloading a method (or function) in C++ is the ability
for functions of the same name to be defined as long as these methods have
different signatures (different set of parameters). Method overriding is the
ability of the inherited class rewriting the virtual method of the base class.

2. What methods can be overridden in Java? In C++ terminology, all public

methods in Java are virtual. Therefore, all Java methods can be overwritten in
subclasses except those that are declared final, static, and private.

3. In C, what is the difference between a static variable and global

variable? A static variable declared outside of any function is accessible only
to all the functions defined in the same file (as the static variable). However,
a global variable can be accessed by any function (including the ones from
different files).

4. In C, why is the void pointer useful? When would you use it? The void
pointer is useful becuase it is a generic pointer that any pointer can be cast
into and back again without loss of information.

5. What are the defining traits of an object-oriented language? The

defining traits of an object-oriented langauge are:
o encapsulation
o inheritance
o polymorphism

C++ object-oriented

1. What is pure virtual function?

A class is made abstract by declaring one or more of its virtual functions to be
pure. A pure virtual function is one with an initializer of = 0 in its declaration

Q. Write a Struct Time where integer m, h, s are its members

struct Time
{
int m;
int h;
int s;
};

ow do you traverse a Btree in Backward in-order?

Process the node in the right subtree
Process the root
Process the node in the left subtree
 Q. What is the two main roles of Operating System?
As a resource manager
As a virtual machine

Q. In the derived class, which data member of the base class are
visible?
In the public and protected sections.

C++ algorithm

1. (From Microsoft) Assume I have a linked list contains all of the

alphabets from ‘A’ to ‘Z’. I want to find the letter ‘Q’ in the list, how
does you perform the search to find the ‘Q’?Answer: In a linked list, we
only know about the header and other elements are invisible unless we go
through the node one by one. Since we have go through every single node to
find ‘Q’, the search time for a linked list is linear which is O (N).

From IBM) How do you think about your school?

: I enjoy studying in our school because we have many professors and
instructors are from local companies. Their professions lead us more close to
local industries.

(From IBM) What classes you have enjoyed the most during your
school years?
Answer: I like the class I am taking this semester, which involves a group
project that needs great amount of team efforts. I really enjoy work with a
group of people because we can learn new materials mutually.

>

m IBM) According to your group project you just mentioned, what’s the
responsibility for each member in your group?
Answer: We have five people in our group. So far we have two web servers
set up; one will be the back up system and the other will be the main system.
Our leader coordinates the schedule. Two members are working on the
database and do the coding for the connection between database and Java
serverlets. One member is working on the user browser interface. All
members will assign some classes to work on and perform the final test at the
end. We have group meeting every Saturday to ensure our schedule is on
track.

Can you work under pressure?

Answer: I worked for Sega of America in the hardware development group
three years ago. They were working on the next generation of gaming
machine (which is the “Dreamcast” we seen today in the market). My duty
was to ensure the quality of prototypes that just built from manufacture were
ready for engineers to test. I managed to balance the schedules and
pressures from school and work.
1. 1. How do you write a function that can reverse a linked-list? (Cisco
System)
2. void reverselist(void)
3. {
4. if(head==0)
5. return;
6. if(head->next==0)
7. return;
8. if(head->next==tail)
9. {
10. head->next = 0;
11. tail->next = head;
12. }
13. else
14. {
15. node* pre = head;
16. node* cur = head->next;
17. node* curnext = cur->next;
18. head->next = 0;
cur->next = head;
for(; curnext!=0; )
{
cur->next = pre;
pre = cur;
cur = curnext;
curnext = curnext->next;
}
curnext->next = cur;
}
}

2. What is polymorphism?

Polymorphism is the idea that a base class can be inherited by several

classes. A base class pointer can point to its child class and a base class array
can store different child class objects.

3. How do you find out if a linked-list has an end? (i.e. the list is not a
cycle)

You can find out by using 2 pointers. One of them goes 2 nodes each time.
The second one goes at 1 nodes each time. If there is a cycle, the one that
goes 2 nodes each time will eventually meet the one that goes slower. If that
is the case, then you will know the linked-list is a cycle.

4. How can you tell what shell you are running on UNIX system?

You can do the Echo $RANDOM. It will return a undefined variable if you are
from the C-Shell, just a return prompt if you are from the Bourne shell, and a
5 digit random numbers if you are from the Korn shell. You could also do a ps
-l and look for the shell with the highest PID.
 5. What is Boyce Codd Normal form?

A relation schema R is in BCNF with respect to a set F of functional

dependencies if for all functional dependencies in F+ of the form a->b, where
a and b is a subset of R, at least one of the following holds:

o a->b is a trivial functional dependency (b is a subset of a)

o a is a superkey for schema R

C++ networking questions

1. Q: What is the difference between Stack and Queue?

A: Stack is a Last In First Out (LIFO) data structure.

Queue is a First In First Out (FIFO) data structure

Q: Write a fucntion that will reverse a string. (Microsoft)

A: char *strrev(char *s)

int i = 0, len = strlen(s);

char *str;

if ((str = (char *)malloc(len+1)) == NULL) /*cannot allocate memory */

err_num = 2;

return (str);

while(len)

str[i++]=s[–len];

str[i] = NULL;

return (str);

Q: What is the software Life-Cycle?

A: The software Life-Cycle are

 1) Analysis and specification of the task

2) Design of the algorithms and data structures

3) Implementation (coding)

4) Testing

5) Maintenance and evolution of the system

6) Obsolescence

Q: What is the difference between a Java application and a Java

applet?

A: The difference between a Java application and a Java applet is that a

Java application is a program that can be executed using the Java

interpeter, and a JAVA applet can be transfered to different networks

and executed by using a web browser (transferable to the WWW).

Q: Name 7 layers of the OSI Reference Model? (from Cisco)

A: -Application layer

-Presentation layer

-Session layer

-Transport layer

-Network layer

-Data Link layer

-Physical layer

C++ algorithm specific interview questions

1. Q1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of B-star trees over

Binary trees? (Asked by Motorola people)

A1 B-star trees have better data structure and are faster in search than
Binary trees, but it’s harder to write codes for B-start trees.
 Q2 Write the psuedo code for the Depth first Search.(Asked by
Microsoft)

A2

dfs(G, v) //OUTLINE
Mark v as "discovered"
For each vertex w such that edge vw is in G:
If w is undiscovered:
dfs(G, w); that is, explore vw, visit w, explore from there
as much as possible, and backtrack from w to v.
Otherwise:
"Check" vw without visiting w.
Mark v as "finished".

Q3 Describe one simple rehashing policy.(Asked by Motorola people)

A3. The simplest rehashing policy is linear probing. Suppose a key K hashes
to location i. Suppose other key occupies H[i]. The following function is used
to generate alternative locations:

rehash(j) = (j + 1) mod h

where j is the location most recently probed. Initially j = i, the hash code for
K. Notice that this version of rehash does not depend on K.

Q4 Describe Stacks and name a couple of places where stacks are

useful. (Asked by Microsoft)

A4 .A Stack is a linear structure in which insertions and deletions are always

made at one end, called the top. This updating policy is called last in, first out
(LIFO). It is useful when we need to check some syntex errors, such as
missing parentheses.

Q5 Suppose a 3-bit sequence number is used in the selective-reject

ARQ, what is the maximum number of frames that could be
transmitted at a time? (Asked by Cisco)

A5. If a 3-bit sequence number is used, then it could distinguish 8 different

frames. Since the number of frames that could be transmitted at a time is no
greater half the numner of frames that could be distinguished by the
sequence number, so at most 4 frames can be transmitted at a time

Basic C++ interview questions

1. 1.Question: Suppose that data is an array of 1000 integers. Write a

single function call that will sort the 100 elements data [222] through
data [321].

Answer: quicksort ((data + 222), 100);

 2.Question: Which recursive sorting technique always makes
recursive calls to sort subarrays that are about half size of the
original array?

Answer: Mergesort always makes recursive calls to sort subarrays that are
about half size of the original array, resulting in O(n log n) time.

3.Question: What is the difference between an external iterator and

an internal iterator? Describe an advantage of an external iterator.

Answer: .An internal iterator is implemented with member functions of the

class that has items to step through. .An external iterator is implemented as a
separate class that can be "attach" to the object that has items to step
through. .An external iterator has the advantage that many difference
iterators can be active simultaneously on the same object.

4.Question: Why are arrays usually processed with for loop?

Answer: The real power of arrays comes from their facility of using an index
variable to traverse the array, accessing each element with the same
expression a[i]. All the is needed to make this work is a iterated statement in
which the variable i serves as a counter, incrementing from 0 to a.length -1.
That is exactly what a loop does.

5.Question: What is an HTML tag?

Answer: An HTML tag is a syntactical construct in the HTML language that

abbreviates specific instructions to be executed when the HTML script is loaded
into a Web browser. It is like a method in Java, a function in C++, a procedure in
Pascal, or a subroutine in FORTRAN

1. . Design and implement a String class that satisfies the following:

o Supports embedded nulls
o Provide the following methods (at least)
 Constructor
 Destructor
 Copy constructor
 Assignment operator
 Addition operator (concatenation)
 Return character at location
 Return substring at location
 Find substring
o Provide versions of methods for String and for char* arguments

2. Given the following classes

class Fruit {
// …
}

class Apple : public Fruit {

// …
}

class Peach : public Fruit {

// …
}

// Container of fruit
class BasketOfFruit {
BasketOfFruit() ;
void insert( Fruit & f ) ;
// …
}

// Container of apples
class BasketOfApples /* ??? */ {
// …
}

Should BasketOfApples derive from BasketOfFruit? Why or why not?

What is the general principle that determines the answer?

3. Describe briefly what the following function does. What standard function is
it most like ?

int f( char *p ) {
int n = 0 ;
while ( *p != 0 ) n = 10*n + *p++ - ‘0′ ;
return n ;
}

4. Describe briefly what function ‘a’ does in the following code fragment.

struct s {
struct s *next ;
}

a( struct s *p, struct s *x ) {

while ( p->next != 0 ) p = p->next ;
p->next = x ;
x->next = 0 ;
}

5. What default methods are declared implicitly by the C++ compiler for the
class below:
class Empty
{
};

6. Given a system with a hard realtime priority, multithreaded architecture,

with priorities from 1 (least) to 5 (most), explain the major flaw in the design
below:

The following objects are shared between the threads:

Disk : This class is a singleton. The read() and write() methods both block on
a simple atomic lock()/unlock() shared between the two. (ie, only one thread
can access the disk, thru either read or write, at any given time). It also has a
waitForData() method, which blocks (without claiming the lock) until either a
timeout elapses, or data is ready. It returns true upon returning due to new
data, false upon returning due to the timeout.

Network : This class is a singleton. The read() and write() methods both
block on a simple atomic lock()/unlock() shared between the two. (ie, only
one thread can access the disk, thru either read or write, at any given time).

Sensor: The Sensor class accesses a number of physical sensors. The first
method, ‘waitForData()’, blocks until data has been collected from the
sensors. The second method, ‘processData()’, does a series of long and cpu-
intensive calculations on the data. These calculations often take several
minutes. It then returns the processed data.

Each of the following threads is running concurrently. Assume that the

psuedocode in each thread is looped infinitely (ie, encased in a while(true)
{ }. It is extremely important that information buffered to the disk be sent to
the network as quickly as possible, this is why Thread 1 runs at priority 5. The
system conditions checked in thread 3 are not particularly important events
(not as important as the calculations done in thread 2). If the events aren’t
transmitted over the network for several minutes, it’s not a problem at all.
They do, however, contain a large amount of system information. Thread 4
watches for serious system alarms, indicating serious problems. These are a
serious concern and if not quickly buffered to the disk and sent to the
network, can cause serious revenue loss.

Thread 1: (priority: 5)
while(!Disk.waitForData()) { yield(); } /* Wait until someone has
written data to the disk */
Network.write(Disk.read()); /* Write the data buffered on the
disk to
the network */

Thread 2: (priority: 2)
while(!Sensor.waitForData()) { yield(); } /* Wait until the
sensors
have picked up data */
Disk.write(Sensor.processData()); /* process the data and write
it to
the disk. */
 Thread 3: (priority: 1)

if (checkSystemCondition1()) /* If system condition 1 is true.. */

Disk.write(SystemCond1Data); /* Grab the data on the system
condition and buffer it to disk */
if (checkSystemCondition2()) /* see above*/
Disk.write(SystemCond2Data);
if (checkSystemCondition3()) /* see above */
Disk.write(SystemCond3Data);
yield();

Thread 4: (priority: 4)
if (checkAlarms()) /* If any serious alarms exist */
Disk.write(AlarmData); /* Buffer that data to disk for immediate
network transmit */
yield();

1. Q: How do you link a C++ program to C functions?

A: By using the extern "C" linkage specification around the C function

declarations.

Q: Explain the scope resolution operator.

A: It permits a program to reference an identifier in the global scope that has

been hidden by another identifier with the same name in the local scope.

Q: What are the differences between a C++ struct and C++ class?

A: The default member and base-class access specifiers are different.

Q: How many ways are there to initialize an int with a constant?

A: Two.

There are two formats for initializers in C++ as shown in the example that
follows. The first format uses the traditional C notation. The second format
uses constructor notation.

int foo = 123;

int bar (123);

Q: How does throwing and catching exceptions differ from using setjmp and
longjmp?
A: The throw operation calls the destructors for automatic objects instantiated
since entry to the try block.

Q: What is your reaction to this line of code?

delete this;

A: It’s not a good practice.

Q: What is a default constructor?

A: A constructor that has no arguments.

Q: What is a conversion constructor?

A: A constructor that accepts one argument of a different type.

Q: What is the difference between a copy constructor and an overloaded

assignment operator?

A: A copy constructor constructs a new object by using the content of the

argument object. An overloaded
assignment operator assigns the contents of an existing object to another
existing object of the same class.

Q: When should you use multiple inheritance?

A: There are three acceptable answers: "Never," "Rarely," and "When the
problem domain cannot be accurately modeled any other way."

Q: What is a virtual destructor?

A: The simple answer is that a virtual destructor is one that is declared with
the virtual attribute.

Q: Explain the ISA and HASA class relationships. How would you implement
each in a class design?

A: A specialized class "is" a specialization of another class and, therefore, has

the ISA relationship with the other class. An Employee ISA Person. This
relationship is best implemented with inheritance. Employee is derived from
Person. A class may have an instance of another class. For example, an
employee "has" a salary, therefore the Employee class has the HASA
relationship with the Salary class. This relationship is best implemented by
embedding an object of the Salary class in the Employee class.

Q: When is a template a better solution than a base class?

A: When you are designing a generic class to contain or otherwise manage

objects of other types, when the format and behavior of those other types are
unimportant to their containment or management, and particularly when
those other types are unknown (thus, the genericity) to the designer of the
container or manager class.

Q: What is a mutable member?

A: One that can be modified by the class even when the object of the class or
the member function doing the modification is const.

Q: What is an explicit constructor?

A: A conversion constructor declared with the explicit keyword. The compiler

does not use an explicit constructor to implement an implied conversion of
types. It’s purpose is reserved explicitly for construction.

Q: What is the Standard Template Library?

A: A library of container templates approved by the ANSI committee for

inclusion in the standard C++ specification.

A programmer who then launches into a discussion of the generic

programming model, iterators, allocators, algorithms, and such, has a higher
than average understanding of the new technology that STL brings to C++
programming.

Q: Describe run-time type identification.

A: The ability to determine at run time the type of an object by using the
typeid operator or the dynamic_cast operator.

Q: What problem does the namespace feature solve?

A: Multiple providers of libraries might use common global identifiers causing

a name collision when an application tries to link with two or more such
libraries. The namespace feature surrounds a library’s external declarations
with a unique namespace that eliminates the potential for those collisions.

This solution assumes that two library vendors don’t use the same namespace
identifier, of course.

Q: Are there any new intrinsic (built-in) data types?

A: Yes. The ANSI committee added the bool intrinsic type and its true and
false value keywords.
1. What is a Make file?(Fujitsu) Make file is a utility in Unix to help compile
large programs. It helps by only compiling the portion of the program that
has been changed.

2. What is deadlock? (Novell) Deadlock is a situation when two or more

processes prevent each other from running.Example: if T1 is holding x and
waiting for y to be free and T2 holding y and waiting for x to be free deadlock
happens.

3. What is semaphore? (Novell) Semaphore is a special variable, it has two

methods: up and down. Semaphore performs atomic operations, which
means ones a semaphore is called it can not be inturrupted.

4. Is C an object-oriented language? (Microsoft) C is not an object-oriented

language, but limited object-oriented programming can be done in C.

5. Name some major differences between C++ and Java. C++ has
pointers; Java does not. Java is platform-independent; C++ is not. Java has
garbage collection; C++ does not.

1. Q1: Could you tell something about the Unix System Kernel? (from
ITCO )

A1: The kernel is the heart of the UNIX openrating system, it’s reponsible for
controlling the computer’s resouces and scheduling user jobs so that each one
gets its fair share of resources.

Q2: What are each of the standard files and what are they normally
associated with? (from ITCO )

A2: They are the standard input file, the standard output file and the standard
error file. The first is usually associated with the keyboard, the second and
third are usually associated with the terminal screen.

Q3: Detemine the code below, tell me exectly how many times is the
operation sum++ performed ? (from ITCO )

for ( i = 0; i < 100; i++ )

for ( j = 100; j > 100 - i; j–)
sum++;
A3: (99 * 100)/2 = 4950
The sum++ is performed 4950 times.

Q4: Give 4 examples which belongs application layer in TCP/IP

architecture? (from CISCO )

A4: FTP, TELNET, HTTP and TFTP

Q5: What’s the meaning of ARP in TCP/IP? (from CISCO )

A5: The "ARP" stands for Address Resolution Protocol. The ARP standard
defines two basic message types: a request and a response. a request
message contains an IP address and requests the corresponding hardware
address; a replay contains both the IP address, sent in the request, and the
hardware address.