Product Perfect

Whitespace is an esoteric programming language developed by Edwin Brady and Chris Morris. It was released on April Fool's Day in 2003. The unique aspect of Whitespace is that it only recognizes spaces, tabs, and line breaks as valid commands, while any other visible character or symbol is ignored as a comment. This makes the code written in Whitespace nearly invisible to human eyes since it consists of whitespace characters only. While this may seem impractical for general use, it serves as an interesting experiment in programming language design. The language supports basic arithmetic operations, heap access, control flow instructions and I/O operations. However due to its unusual nature & inherent difficulty in writing/reading code - it is considered more of a novelty or puzzle rather than a practical tool for software development.

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

First 20 minutes

General Whitespace app knowledge and experience

The first 20 minutes of the interview should seek to understand the candidate's general background in Whitespace 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 a Whitespace program?

A Whitespace program is composed of spaces, tabs, and line breaks. Each of these characters represents a specific instruction in the Whitespace language. The language ignores any non-whitespace characters.

What are the three types of instructions in Whitespace?

The three types of instructions in Whitespace are Stack Manipulation, Arithmetic, and Heap Access.

How would you push a number onto the stack in Whitespace?

To push a number onto the stack in Whitespace, you would use the 'Space' instruction followed by the number you want to push, and then a 'Line Feed' to indicate the end of the instruction.

Describe the difference between the 'Space' and 'Tab' instructions in Whitespace.

'Space' is used for Stack Manipulation and 'Tab' is used for Arithmetic and Heap Access. The specific operation depends on the sequence of spaces, tabs, and line feeds that follow.

How would you perform arithmetic operations in Whitespace?

Arithmetic operations in Whitespace are performed using the 'Tab' instruction followed by a sequence of spaces, tabs, and line feeds that represent the specific operation and its operands.

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What you’re looking for early on

Does the candidate have a strong understanding of Whitespace syntax and semantics?

Has the candidate demonstrated problem-solving skills?

Can the candidate effectively debug Whitespace code?

Has the candidate worked on any projects using Whitespace?

Next 20 minutes

Specific Whitespace 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.

What are the flow control instructions in Whitespace and how do they work?

Flow control instructions in Whitespace include 'Mark', 'Call', 'Jump', 'Jump If Zero', 'Jump If Negative', 'End Subroutine', and 'End Program'. They control the execution flow of the program based on the state of the stack.

How would you implement a loop in Whitespace?

A loop in Whitespace can be implemented using the 'Mark' instruction to set a label, and then the 'Jump' instruction to return to that label. The 'Jump If Zero' or 'Jump If Negative' instructions can be used to create conditional loops.

How would you read and write data from the heap in Whitespace?

Reading and writing data from the heap in Whitespace is done using the 'Tab' instruction followed by a sequence of spaces, tabs, and line feeds that represent the specific operation and its operands.

What is the purpose of the 'End Program' instruction in Whitespace?

The 'End Program' instruction in Whitespace is used to indicate the end of the program. It stops the execution of the program.

How would you handle errors in a Whitespace program?

Error handling in Whitespace is quite challenging due to its esoteric nature. However, you can use the 'Jump If Zero' or 'Jump If Negative' instructions to handle errors based on the state of the stack.

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

What does this simple Whitespace program do?
[Space][Space][Space][LF][LF][LF]
This is a simple Whitespace program that pushes the number 0 onto the stack and then ends the program.
What does this Whitespace program do, considering the general syntax?
[Space][Space][Space][LF][Space][Tab][Space][LF][LF][LF]
This Whitespace program pushes the number 0 onto the stack, then duplicates the top item on the stack, and finally ends the program.
What does this Whitespace program do, considering array or collection manipulation?
[Space][Space][Space][LF][Space][Space][Space][LF][Tab][Tab][Space][LF][LF][LF]
This Whitespace program pushes the number 0 onto the stack twice, then swaps the top two items on the stack, and finally ends the program.
What does this Whitespace program do, considering threading or concurrency?
[Space][Space][Space][LF][Tab][LF][LF][LF]
This Whitespace program pushes the number 0 onto the stack, then enters a new heap address, and finally ends the program.

Wrap-up questions

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

Describe the difference between 'Jump If Zero' and 'Jump If Negative' instructions in Whitespace.

'Jump If Zero' jumps to a label if the top of the stack is zero, while 'Jump If Negative' jumps to a label if the top of the stack is negative.

How would you debug a Whitespace program?

Debugging a Whitespace program can be quite challenging due to its esoteric nature. However, you can use a Whitespace interpreter that provides debugging features, such as displaying the state of the stack and the heap after each instruction.

What are the challenges of working with Whitespace and how would you overcome them?

The main challenges of working with Whitespace include its esoteric nature and lack of readability. These can be overcome by using a Whitespace interpreter that provides features such as syntax highlighting and debugging, and by carefully documenting the program.

Whitespace application related

Product Perfect's Whitespace development capabilities

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

Whitespace Consultive assessments

Whitespace Application Conversion Assessment Whitespace Application Integration Assessment Whitespace Data & Database Integration Assessment

Custom Whitespace development projects

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

Hiring guide for Whitespace Engineers

Whitespace Developer Hiring Guide

What you’re looking for early on

The ideal back-end app developer

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

Whitespace Consultive assessments

Custom Whitespace development projects