Product Perfect

AWK is a versatile programming language created in 1977 by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan at Bell Labs. Named after its creators' initials, AWK is primarily used for pattern scanning and processing. It is a standard feature of most Unix-like operating systems, including Linux and macOS. The language's design is centered around data-driven scripting and its syntax is influenced by C programming language. Its original purpose was to make data manipulation easier, and it continues to be widely used for this purpose today.

Ask the right questions secure the right AWK talent among an increasingly shrinking pool of talent.

First 20 minutes

General AWK app knowledge and experience

The first 20 minutes of the interview should seek to understand the candidate's general background in AWK application development, including their experience with various programming languages, databases, and their approach to designing scalable and maintainable systems.

How would you define AWK?

AWK is a powerful text processing language that is used for data manipulation. It is a standard feature of most Unix-like operating systems.

What are the uses of AWK?

AWK is used for text processing, data extraction and reporting, string manipulation, and generating formatted reports.

Describe the difference between AWK and other scripting languages like Python or Perl.

AWK is specifically designed for text processing and report generating, while Python and Perl are general-purpose scripting languages. AWK is simpler and easier to learn than Python or Perl.

How would you use AWK to extract specific fields from a text file?

You can use the -F option in AWK to specify the field separator and then print the fields you want. For example, 'awk -F':' '{ print $1 $2 }' file.txt' would print the first and second field of each line in file.txt.

What are the built-in variables in AWK?

Some of the built-in variables in AWK include FS (field separator), OFS (output field separator), NF (number of fields), NR (number of records), and FILENAME (current input file name).

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What you’re looking for early on

Does the candidate demonstrate a strong understanding of AWK programming language?

Is the candidate able to solve problems using AWK?

How well does the candidate understand data manipulation with AWK?

Can the candidate work effectively in a team?

Next 20 minutes

Specific AWK development questions

The next 20 minutes of the interview should focus on the candidate's expertise with specific backend frameworks, their understanding of RESTful APIs, and their experience in handling data storage and retrieval efficiently.

Describe the difference between NR and FNR in AWK.

NR and FNR are both built-in variables in AWK. NR gives the total number of records processed whereas FNR gives the number of records processed in the current file.

How would you use AWK to perform arithmetic operations?

You can use AWK to perform arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, modulus, and exponentiation. For example, 'awk '{ print $1+$2 }' file.txt' would add the values of the first and second fields of each line in file.txt.

What are the control flow statements in AWK?

Control flow statements in AWK include if, else, while, do while, for, break, continue, and exit.

Describe the difference between the getline function and the next statement in AWK.

The getline function in AWK reads the next record from the input, while the next statement forces AWK to immediately stop processing the current record and go on to the next record.

How would you use AWK to process a CSV file?

You can use the -F option in AWK to specify the comma as the field separator. For example, 'awk -F',' '{ print $1 $2 }' file.csv' would print the first and second field of each line in file.csv.

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At this point, a skilled AWK engineer should demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, proficiency in AWK programming language, and knowledge of software development methodologies. Red flags include lack of hands-on experience, inability to articulate complex concepts, or unfamiliarity with standard coding practices.

Digging deeper

Code questions

These will help you see the candidate's real-world development capabilities with AWK.

What does this simple AWK command do: 'awk '{print $1}' file.txt'?
awk '{print $1}' file.txt
This command prints the first field of each line in the file 'file.txt'. AWK considers a space as the default field separator.
What will be the output of this AWK command: 'echo 'Hello World' | awk '{print $2}'?
echo 'Hello World' | awk '{print $2}'
The output will be 'World'. The AWK command prints the second field of the input string 'Hello World'.
What does this AWK command do: 'awk 'BEGIN {FS=","} ; {print $1}' file.csv'?
awk 'BEGIN {FS=","} ; {print $1}' file.csv
This command prints the first field of each line in the file 'file.csv', considering comma as the field separator.
What does this AWK command do: 'awk 'BEGIN {i=1} {print i, $0; i++}' file.txt'?
awk 'BEGIN {i=1} {print i, $0; i++}' file.txt
This command prints each line in 'file.txt' preceded by its line number. The variable 'i' is initialized to 1 and incremented for each line.

Wrap-up questions

Final candidate for AWK Developer role questions

The final few questions should evaluate the candidate's teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. Additionally, assess their knowledge of microservices architecture, serverless computing, and how they handle AWK application deployments. Inquire about their experience in handling system failures and their approach to debugging and troubleshooting.

What are the string functions in AWK?

AWK provides several string functions like length, substr, index, split, sprintf, and gsub.

Describe the difference between the gsub and sub functions in AWK.

Both gsub and sub functions in AWK are used for substitution. The difference is that gsub performs global substitution (replaces all occurrences), while sub replaces only the first occurrence.

How would you use AWK to process a file line by line?

By default, AWK processes a file line by line. You can specify the actions to be performed on each line within curly braces. For example, 'awk '{ print $0 }' file.txt' would print each line of file.txt.

AWK application related

Product Perfect's AWK development capabilities

Beyond hiring for your AWK engineering team, you may be in the market for additional help. Product Perfect provides seasoned expertise in AWK projects, and can engage in multiple capacities.

AWK Consultive assessments

AWK Application Conversion Assessment AWK Application Integration Assessment AWK Data & Database Integration Assessment

Custom AWK development projects

Custom AWK App Conversion AWK Custom App Development Process App UI Design for AWK Facelifts

Hiring guide for AWK Engineers

AWK Developer Hiring Guide

What you’re looking for early on

The ideal back-end app developer

What you’re looking to see on the AWK engineer at this point.

AWK Consultive assessments

Custom AWK development projects