Alef Developer Hiring Guide

Hiring Guide for Alef Engineers

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

The Alef programming language was developed in the late 1980s at Bell Labs for use in Plan 9 from Bell Labs, an experimental operating system. It was designed by Phil Winterbottom, with Rob Pike serving as a major contributor (Pike and Winterbottom, "The Design of the Inferno Virtual Machine", 1997). Alef is concurrent like Go but has a thread model more similar to that of Java or C# ("A Descent into Limbo", Brian Kernighan). However, due to its complexity and lack of portability outside Plan 9 environment, it was eventually replaced by C (Pike et al., "Plan 9 from User Space"). Today, it serves primarily as an interesting piece of computer science history.

First 20 minutes

General Alef knowledge and experience

The next 20 minutes of the interview should attempt to focus more specifically on the development questions used, and the level of depth and skill the engineer possesses.

Describe the difference between a method and a function in Alef.

In Alef, a function is a standalone entity that can take input, process it, and return output. A method, on the other hand, is a function that is associated with an object and can access and modify the object's properties.

How would you define a function in Alef?

In Alef, functions are defined using the 'fn' keyword, followed by the function name, parameters in parentheses, and the function body in curly braces. For example, 'fn add(x, y) { return x + y; }' defines a function named add that takes two parameters and returns their sum.

What is the scope of a variable in Alef?

In Alef, variables can have either global or local scope. Global variables are accessible from any part of the code, while local variables are only accessible within the function or block they are declared.

How would you declare a variable in Alef?

In Alef, you declare a variable using the 'var' keyword, followed by the variable name and its value. For example, 'var x = 10;' declares a variable named x with the value of 10.

What are the basic data types in Alef?

The basic data types in Alef are integers, floating-point numbers, strings, and booleans.

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What youre looking for early-on

Does the candidate have a good understanding of other relevant technologies?

While the focus is on Alef, a good developer should have a solid understanding of other relevant technologies. This shows that they have a broad knowledge base and can adapt to different tasks.

Has the candidate shown they can work well in a team?

Most development projects involve working as part of a team. The candidate should be able to demonstrate that they can work effectively with others.

Does the candidate show a willingness to learn and adapt?

The tech industry is always evolving, so it's important that the candidate is willing and able to adapt to new technologies and methodologies.

Is the candidate able to communicate effectively?

Good communication is key in any job, but particularly in development where the candidate will need to explain complex concepts to non-technical team members.

Has the candidate demonstrated problem-solving skills?

Alef development often involves solving complex problems. A good candidate should be able to demonstrate their problem-solving skills, perhaps by discussing previous projects or hypothetical scenarios.

Does the candidate have a solid understanding of Alef?

This is crucial as the job position is for an Alef developer. Their knowledge and understanding of the language will be fundamental to their ability to perform the job.

Next 20 minutes

Specific Alef development questions

The next 20 minutes of the interview should attempt to focus more specifically on the development questions used, and the level of depth and skill the engineer possesses.

What is the difference between '==' and '===' in Alef?

In Alef, '==' checks for equality of values, while '===' checks for equality of both values and types.

How would you create a class in Alef?

In Alef, a class is created using the 'class' keyword, followed by the class name and the class body in curly braces. The class body can contain properties and methods.

What is the purpose of the 'this' keyword in Alef?

In Alef, the 'this' keyword is used inside a method to refer to the object on which the method was called.

How would you handle exceptions in Alef?

In Alef, exceptions are handled using 'try'/'catch' blocks. The 'try' block contains the code that might throw an exception, and the 'catch' block contains the code to execute if an exception is thrown.

What are the control flow structures in Alef?

Alef supports several control flow structures, including 'if' statements, 'for' and 'while' loops, and 'switch' statements.

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The ideal back-end app developer

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

At this point, a skilled Alef engineer should demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, expertise in Alef programming, and excellent communication skills. Red flags would include lack of experience with Alef, inability to articulate complex concepts clearly, or difficulty in solving practical problems.

Digging deeper

Code questions

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

What does the following simple Alef code do?

fn main() {
	println("Hello, World!");
}

This code prints the string 'Hello, World!' to the standard output.

What will be the output of the following Alef code?

fn main() {
	var x = 10;
	var y = 20;
	println(x+y);
}

The output will be '30'. This code declares two variables 'x' and 'y', assigns them the values 10 and 20 respectively, and then prints their sum.

What does the following Alef code do?

fn main() {
	var arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
	for i in arr {
		println(i);
	}
}

This code prints each number in the array 'arr' on a new line. The 'for' loop iterates over each element in the array.

What does the following Alef code do related to threading?

fn main() {
	thread t1 = new thread(fn() {
		println("Hello from thread 1");
	});
	t1.start();
}

This code creates a new thread 't1' and starts it. The thread prints 'Hello from thread 1' when it runs.

What does the following Alef code do related to class design?

class Animal {
	var name: string;
	fn constructor(name: string) {
		this.name = name;
	}
	fn speak() {
		println("Animal " + this.name + " speaks");
	}
}

This code defines a class 'Animal' with a property 'name' and two methods: 'constructor' and 'speak'. The 'constructor' sets the name of the animal, and the 'speak' method prints a message including the name of the animal.

What will be the output of the following Alef code?

fn main() {
	var a = 10;
	if a >= 10 {
		println("a is greater than or equal to 10");
	} else {
		println("a is less than 10");
	}
}

The output will be 'a is greater than or equal to 10'. This code checks if the variable 'a' is greater than or equal to 10, and prints a corresponding message.

Wrap-up questions

Final candidate for Alef role questions

The final few interview questions for a Alef candidate should typically focus on a combination of technical skills, personal goals, growth potential, team dynamics, and company culture.

How would you optimize performance in an Alef application?

Performance in an Alef application can be optimized in several ways, including minimizing DOM manipulation, using efficient data structures and algorithms, avoiding unnecessary computations, and leveraging caching.

What are the new features introduced in the latest version of Alef?

The latest version of Alef introduced several new features, including support for optional chaining, nullish coalescing, and private class fields.

How would you create and use a generator in Alef?

In Alef, a generator is a special kind of function that can be paused and resumed. It is created using the 'function*' syntax, and used with the 'yield' keyword to pause execution and with the 'next' method to resume it.

What are promises in Alef and how would you use them?

Promises in Alef are objects that represent the eventual completion or failure of an asynchronous operation. They are used to handle asynchronous operations in a more flexible and composable way than callbacks.

How would you import a module in Alef?

In Alef, a module is imported using the 'import' keyword, followed by the module name. For example, 'import math;' imports the math module.

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Alef application related

Product Perfect's Alef development capabilities

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