Jeff Moden (11/28/2012)
wolfkillj (11/28/2012)
Jeff Moden (11/27/2012)
CELKO (11/27/2012)
Create a million row FizzBuzz table. FizzBuzz isn't a comment. It's the name of a very common problem based on a child's game, is frequently given on interviews, ..
:laugh: I had to do a FizzBuzz on an interview two years ago! I was appalled to be told that a lot of people failed it. The trick that even the experienced guys miss is MOD(n, 15) rather than just MOD(n, 3) and MOD(n, 5) in the CASE expression.
The other exercise would be to teach people how to use Books Online and Google.
Amen.
Heh... too funny. I've given it as an interview question a couple of times just to see what would happen. DISMAL failure! I'd be happy if someone could actually get it right even using a WHILE loop never mind something like a cteTALLY or a cross join with ROW_NUMBER. Even the ones that think of the MOD(n,15) (n%15 in SQL Server) always put it last in the CASE statement simply because it comes last in the problem description.
I'm not sure I'd think less of a coder who didn't know the "n mod 15" trick - that's a nugget of math trivia, not a fundamental programming construct.
If the coder attempting to solve the "fizz-buzz" puzzle (a) knows how to generate a set of sequential integers in T-SQL without a loop construct, (b) understands that the "fizz-buzz-fizzbuzz" requirement is most easily and efficiently satisfied in T-SQL with a CASE expression, (c) recognizes that the "fizzbuzz" condition must come first in the CASE expression, and (d) codes the "fizzbuzz" condition to produce the correct result (either "WHEN n % 3 = 0 AND n % 5 = 0" or "WHEN n % 15 = 0"), he or she has passed with flying colors, in my opinion!
In fact, I wouldn't fault a coder for getting the order of conditions in the CASE expression wrong at first as long as he or she identifies the cause of the incorrect result for multiples of 15 and corrects the error on the second try.
I consider knowing modulus fuctions to be required basic mathematical knowledge for all programmers but especially for anyone working with a database. It goes hand-in-hand with such things as knowing how to do simple integer math for grouping and I certainly don't consider it to be a trivial math function or a trick question. I agree that all of what you've stated is equally important but the knowledge of basic math functions in any programmig language is not a trivial requirement.
Still, I agree... missing one part of one question in the interview process does't guarantee a "No" by any means especially since most of the people I've asked do, in fact, get the modulus portion right and all of the rest of it wrong. 😛
I didn't mean that I wouldn't expect a coder to know the modulo function, but that I wouldn't expect a coder to know that all numbers that are divisible by both 3 and 5 are also divisible by 15. That's the "math trivia", and ignorance of that fact doesn't reflect negatively on one's ability as a programmer. On the other hand, a fizz-buzz solution that doesn't use the modulo function would raise some serious doubts about the coder's ability.
Jason Wolfkill