If you read ‘Yahoo Job Interview Questions: Part 1‘ because you were interested in the answers to their questions, then you will definitely be interested in Part 2; which answers questions 12 through 22.
So let’s get started!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to interview for a position at Google or Yahoo?
Well at another blog they shared some pre-interview questions from Yahoo for a PHP job. The only problem is they never provided the answers. So that’s what I’m going to do now.
Yahoo, if you’re watching, please check my answers and if they are right, I can start next week! 🙂
This past week, I have been undergoing a week of rigorous training learning the key differences between .NET 2.0/3.0 and .NET 1.1. For the past two years our company has been working with the 1.1 framework, and is now migrating towards the 2.0/3.0 framework. This week the instructor said something I knew, but was glad to be reminded about. It wasn’t even a .NET oriented question, it was an object oriented question that does not apply to one specific language, but to all OOP (object oriented programming) models in general.
What is the difference between a struct and a class? When should you use a struct versus a class? How do you know?
After reading Paul’s article “CSS The Star Matrix Pre-loaded“, I wanted to contribute by writing a back-end solution to the CSS effect.
Before we get into this, you will need to have PHP 5 installed and MySQL 3.23 or higher. PHP 5 allows for greater implementation of OOP (Object Oriented Programming) than its predecessors.
It’s hard to believe that I graduated college nearly two years ago and have been working at an Insurance Company as a programmer since. I would like to tell you that college completely prepared me for a job in the real world, but I would be lying if I did.
During the time I spent searching for a job, being interviewed, and now having been in my job for some time, I have learned some valuable lessons that I’d like to share.
First we’ll look at some suggestions of what you can do while you’re interviewing for a job and then I’ll talk about ways to make you more successful at the job you land. Let’s begin.
Lately, I have seen a huge hype on Optimizing MySQL Statements, or on a more generalized approach of just optimizing your SQL. I want to reflect on this a bit and tell you that 10 tips will never solve your problem. 10 tips will not even come close to making a difference. 10 tips are not going to help you.
With that said, here are my reflections:
Reflection #1: Buy a Book
Why? It is purely simple, I can give you the best tips in the world and it won’t save your database from crawling if you do not fully understand why I gave the tips to begin with. Nor will it save you if the true cause isn’t entirely your SQL, but your schema as well. Sure there are things to keep in mind, but do us all a favor and buy a book, read it cover to cover, and fully indulge yourself in to how Databases work, especially the one you use for your site.
Reflection #2: Pick the Database for the Job
A professor once told me that there isn’t a single language that can do everything efficiently. Pick the language for the job, do not fit the job into a language. The same can be said about Databases. Pick the right Database for the job, do not try and fit your job into a specific Database just because you like it more.
Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Postgress, and MySQL (MyISAM or INNODB) all have their place. Do the research, figure out under which circumstance each work best, and then pick the one that is suitable for your task. Keep in mind cost and licensing can definitely be deciding factors. If you do not want to shell out the money for Microsoft SQL, then by all means, rule it out and research the others to see what will be more suitable. However, if you want to succeed, cost and licensing should not be major factors in your decision.
Reflection #3: Learn to ask for Help
The major issue with database and SQL design is primarily due to the inexperience of the user. If you are trying to design a database or write a complex SQL statement, by all means ask for help. I can’t tell you how many times I have rewritten the Stored Procedures at my work place because a newer developer wrote them.
There are countless places you can get help, countless forums, and chances are you may think you are designing something entirely revolutionary that has never been done. However, I am willing to bet it has been done and the user who can tell you his pitfalls and experience with doing it, is likely to be moderating a forum. Allow their experience to steer you clear from the same issues. No need to reinvent the wheel.
For those just joining, it is suggested that you begin with OOP in PHP from a .NET OOP Perspective as this is Part 3 of a series.
This time I am going to talk about the Database class, as every project now-a-days typically stores their information in a database. A good database class can save you time and memory in retrieving results. It should be able to cache previous queries, to recall them later, and it should clear out the results from memory when they are no longer needed.