Elysian Shadows

I am preparing to host a programming trivia game at where I work. I haven't set a date yet, so, hopefully we have some time.

Yes, I will be Googling around for a few trivia question repositories, but I wanted to come up with a few of my own and let you guys contribute a few.

I want multiple choice only. I would rather avoid having to subjectively judge answers. Questions can be ABCD or true/false. I want a wide range of difficulty too. The categories are C++, C#, Java, and General. I'll post a link to my trivia doc once I've gathered a few.

--- EXAMPLES ---

[GENERAL] True or false? In 2's complement, -n == ~n + 1.

[C++] Which of the following will not compile?
A -- const int * x = 0;
B -- int const * x = 0;
C -- int * const x = 0;
D -- const int * const x = 0;
E -- int const * const x = 0;
F -- None of the above.

I had a boss at work who was notorious for destroying poor coop students who were interviewing at my job. My all-time favorite interview question to ask the CS kiddies is probably this:

"What is the difference between run-time and compile-time polymorphism and give examples of both."

So to make it multiple choice, I would just say something like "which of the following is an example of compile-time polymorphism?"

How about this: give me the declaration of a pointer to a function that takes a pointer to a function which accepts an int, const pointer to char and a pointer to a const double and returns an array of pointers to functions that accept a const pointer to const char and returns an array of pointers to void and returns a long long.

That was difficult to write, imagine solving it. The multiple choices would be fun, though.

bbguimaraes wrote:How about this: give me the declaration of a pointer to a function that takes a pointer to a function which accepts an int, const pointer to char and a pointer to a const double and returns an array of pointers to functions that accept a const pointer to const char and returns an array of pointers to void and returns a long long.

That was difficult to write, imagine solving it. The multiple choices would be fun, though.

Considering that the majority of my co-workers do not work in C++ (ever), even a question as simple as asking for the correct syntax of a function pointer would blow their minds.

TheBuzzSaw wrote:Considering that the majority of my co-workers do not work in C++ (ever), even a question as simple as asking for the correct syntax of a function pointer would blow their minds.

If the goal is for everybody to learn something new, I think it'd be a nice question, could generate some interesting discussion.

Syntax is too language specific for large audiences. Falco's conceptual question seems more appropriate. If all else fails, you could revert to history questions like: "Who created the first compiler?" and "For which programming language was the compiler created?"

dandymcgee wrote:Syntax is too language specific for large audiences. Falco's conceptual question seems more appropriate. If all else fails, you could revert to history questions like: "Who created the first compiler?" and "For which programming language was the compiler created?"

That can be a category too, but try to focus here. I never said I'm wanting them to learn a ton from this. It's a game.

Wide range of difficulty? Here's a couple:

What is the result of the following code? A) x will be four
B) x will be six
C) x will be five
Answer: A

What is the difference between a syntax error and a semantic error?
A) They are the same thing
B) A syntax error will not compile and a semantic error will compile and run but not produce the expected result
C) Both will compile but a semantic error will not affect the output of the program; a syntax error will
Answer: B