Hiring guide for Edinburgh IMP Engineers

Edinburgh IMP Developer Hiring Guide

Edinburgh IMP is a high-level programming language that was developed in the 1960s at the University of Edinburgh. It was designed for use on the English Electric KDF9 computer, which was one of the first computers to be installed at the university. Edinburgh IMP is an imperative language that supports structured programming and includes features such as loops, conditionals, and subroutines. It also supports dynamic memory allocation and has a syntax that is similar to ALGOL 60. Despite its age, Edinburgh IMP had a significant influence on later programming languages and played a key role in the development of computer science education at the University of Edinburgh.

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

First 20 minutes

General Edinburgh IMP app knowledge and experience

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

How would you describe the basic structure of an Edinburgh IMP program?
An Edinburgh IMP program is structured into procedures, which are blocks of code that perform specific tasks. Each procedure has a name and may have parameters. The main procedure is the entry point of the program.
What are the data types supported by Edinburgh IMP?
Edinburgh IMP supports several data types including integer, real, boolean, character, and string. It also supports complex data types like arrays and records.
Describe the difference between a procedure and a function in Edinburgh IMP.
In Edinburgh IMP, a procedure is a block of code that performs a specific task but does not return a value. On the other hand, a function is a block of code that performs a specific task and returns a value.
How would you handle errors in Edinburgh IMP?
Edinburgh IMP provides a mechanism for error handling using exceptions. When an error occurs, an exception is raised. This exception can be caught and handled using an exception handler.
What are the control structures available in Edinburgh IMP?
Edinburgh IMP provides several control structures including if-then-else, case, for, while, and repeat-until.
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What you’re looking for early on

Does the candidate have a solid understanding of IMP language?
Has the candidate demonstrated problem-solving skills?
Is the candidate able to communicate effectively?
Does the candidate have experience with other programming languages?

Next 20 minutes

Specific Edinburgh IMP 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 a global variable and a local variable in Edinburgh IMP.
In Edinburgh IMP, a global variable is declared outside all procedures and functions and can be accessed from anywhere in the program. A local variable is declared inside a procedure or function and can only be accessed within that procedure or function.
How would you implement recursion in Edinburgh IMP?
Recursion in Edinburgh IMP can be implemented by having a procedure or function call itself. The base case is defined to stop the recursion, and the recursive case is defined to make the recursive call.
What are the string manipulation functions available in Edinburgh IMP?
Edinburgh IMP provides several string manipulation functions including length, substring, concatenation, and comparison.
Describe the difference between pass-by-value and pass-by-reference in Edinburgh IMP.
In Edinburgh IMP, pass-by-value means that a copy of the value is passed to the procedure or function. Any changes made to the value inside the procedure or function do not affect the original value. Pass-by-reference means that a reference to the value is passed to the procedure or function. Any changes made to the value inside the procedure or function affect the original value.
How would you create and use an array in Edinburgh IMP?
In Edinburgh IMP, an array is created by declaring it with a specific type and size. The elements of the array can be accessed and manipulated using their indices.
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The ideal back-end app developer

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

At this point, a skilled Edinburgh IMP engineer should demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, proficiency in Edinburgh IMP 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 Edinburgh IMP.

What does this simple piece of code do?
{
 'name': 'John',
 'age': 30,
 'city': 'New York'
}
This is a JSON object with three properties: name, age, and city. The values of these properties are 'John', 30, and 'New York' respectively.
What will be the output of this code?
{
 'employees': [
 { 'firstName': 'John', 'lastName': 'Doe' },
 { 'firstName': 'Anna', 'lastName': 'Smith' },
 { 'firstName': 'Peter', 'lastName': 'Jones' }
 ]
}.employees[1].firstName
The output of this code will be 'Anna'. It is accessing the firstName property of the second object in the employees array.
What does this code do?
{
 'fruits': ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry'],
 'vegetables': ['broccoli', 'carrot', 'pepper']
}.fruits.sort()
This code sorts the 'fruits' array in alphabetical order. The output will be ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry'].
What does this code do?
{
 'counter': 0,
 'increment': function () {
 this.counter++;
 }
}.increment()
This code increments the value of the 'counter' property by 1. After this code is executed, the value of 'counter' will be 1.

Wrap-up questions

Final candidate for Edinburgh IMP 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 Edinburgh IMP application deployments. Inquire about their experience in handling system failures and their approach to debugging and troubleshooting.

What are the file handling capabilities of Edinburgh IMP?
Edinburgh IMP provides capabilities for file handling including opening a file, reading from a file, writing to a file, and closing a file.
Describe the difference between a static variable and a dynamic variable in Edinburgh IMP.
In Edinburgh IMP, a static variable retains its value between calls to the procedure or function in which it is declared. A dynamic variable does not retain its value between calls to the procedure or function in which it is declared.
How would you implement a linked list in Edinburgh IMP?
A linked list in Edinburgh IMP can be implemented using records. Each record represents a node of the linked list and contains a value and a pointer to the next node.

Edinburgh IMP application related

Product Perfect's Edinburgh IMP development capabilities

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