Harbour Developer Hiring Guide

Hiring Guide for Harbour Engineers

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

Harbour is an open-source programming language, a cross-platform variant of the well-known Clipper language. It was first developed in 1999 by Antonio Linares to overcome limitations of the DOS-based Clipper and to provide a platform-independent solution. The name "Harbour" is inspired by its ability to port applications from one operating system to another with ease. Harbour's source code is hosted on GitHub, demonstrating its commitment to transparency and community involvement. Its robustness, efficiency, and compatibility make it a preferred choice for database-oriented applications. Sources: 1) https://harbour.github.io/ 2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbour_(software) 3) http://www.fivetechsoft.com/harbour

First 20 minutes

General Harbour 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.

What is the use of the '==' operator in Harbour?

In Harbour, '==' is an exact equality operator. It checks if the values of two operands are equal or not. If the values are equal, then the condition becomes true.

How would you handle error handling in Harbour?

In Harbour, error handling can be performed using the ErrorBlock() function. This function sets a new error block and returns the current one. When an error occurs, the error block is evaluated with the error object as an argument.

Describe the difference between Harbour and xHarbour.

While both Harbour and xHarbour are compilers for the Clipper programming language, there are some differences. xHarbour extends the Clipper language with many new features and functions, while Harbour aims to be largely compatible with Clipper and focuses more on stability and speed.

What are the key features of Harbour programming language?

Some key features of Harbour include portability across multiple operating systems, compatibility with Clipper language, support for multiple databases, and the ability to create GUI and console applications.

How would you define Harbour programming language?

Harbour is a free, open-source compiler for the xBase superset language often referred to as Clipper. The goal of the Harbour project is to produce a cross-platform compiler that can be used in both desktop and web development.

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What youre looking for early-on

Has the candidate demonstrated a strong work ethic and reliability?

A strong work ethic and reliability are important in meeting project deadlines and maintaining quality. The candidate should provide examples of their dedication and consistency in previous roles.

Does the candidate have experience with similar projects?

Experience with similar projects can indicate the candidate's ability to perform the job. They should be able to explain their role, the challenges they faced, and the outcomes of the projects.

Does the candidate show a willingness to learn and adapt?

The tech industry, including Harbour development, is constantly evolving. The candidate should show a willingness to learn new technologies and adapt to changes.

Can the candidate work effectively in a team?

Most development projects require team collaboration. The candidate should show that they can communicate effectively, respect others' ideas, and contribute to a team-oriented environment.

Has the candidate demonstrated problem-solving skills?

Problem-solving skills are crucial in any development role. The candidate should be able to describe a situation where they used their problem-solving skills to overcome a challenge.

Does the candidate have a strong understanding of Harbour programming language?

A strong understanding of Harbour programming language is essential for the role. The candidate should be able to explain complex concepts and demonstrate their knowledge through examples or past experiences.

Next 20 minutes

Specific Harbour 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 purpose of the HB_Inkey() function in Harbour?

The HB_Inkey() function in Harbour is used to check whether a key has been pressed and to get the key code of the last key pressed.

Describe the difference between the '==' and ':=' operators in Harbour.

In Harbour, '==' is an exact equality operator used for comparison, while ':=' is an assignment operator used to assign the value of right operand to the left operand.

How would you implement multithreading in Harbour?

Harbour natively does not support multithreading. However, it can be achieved by integrating with other languages such as C or C++, which do support multithreading.

What is the purpose of the HB_OutStd() function in Harbour?

The HB_OutStd() function in Harbour is used to output a string to the standard output device.

Describe how you would implement file handling in Harbour.

File handling in Harbour can be done using various built-in functions such as FOpen() to open a file, FRead() to read from a file, FWrite() to write to a file, and FClose() to close a file.

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The ideal back-end app developer

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

A skilled Harbour engineer should possess strong analytical skills, proficiency in using Harbour programming language, and excellent problem-solving abilities. Red flags would include lack of hands-on experience with related projects, poor communication skills, and inability to explain technical concepts clearly.

Digging deeper

Code questions

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

What does the following simple Harbour code do?

PROCEDURE Main()
   ? 'Hello, World!'
RETURN

This code defines the main procedure of a Harbour program and prints 'Hello, World!' to the console.

What will be the output of the following Harbour code?

PROCEDURE Main()
   LOCAL nValue := 5
   ? nValue
RETURN

The output of this code will be '5'. The code declares a local variable 'nValue' and assigns it the value 5, then it prints the value of 'nValue' to the console.

What does the following Harbour code do?

PROCEDURE Main()
   LOCAL aArray := {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
   ? aArray
RETURN

This code declares a local array 'aArray' with five elements and then prints the array to the console.

What does the following Harbour code do?

PROCEDURE Main()
   BEGIN SEQUENCE
      ? 'This is a test.'
   RECOVER USING oError
      ? oError:Description
   END SEQUENCE
RETURN

This code defines a sequence block that prints 'This is a test.' to the console. If any error occurs within the sequence block, the code in the RECOVER block is executed. In this case, it will print the description of the error to the console.

What does the following Harbour code do?

CLASS MyClass
   METHOD New()
   METHOD Print()
ENDCLASS

METHOD New() CLASS MyClass
   ::nValue := 0
RETURN Self

METHOD Print() CLASS MyClass
   ? ::nValue
RETURN

This code defines a class 'MyClass' with two methods: 'New' and 'Print'. The 'New' method initializes a member variable 'nValue' to 0. The 'Print' method prints the value of 'nValue' to the console.

What will be the output of the following Harbour code?

PROCEDURE Main()
   LOCAL oObject := MyClass():New()
   oObject:nValue := 5
   oObject:Print()
RETURN

The output of this code will be '5'. The code creates an instance of 'MyClass', sets its 'nValue' member to 5, and then calls its 'Print' method, which prints the value of 'nValue' to the console.

Wrap-up questions

Final candidate for Harbour role questions

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

What are the steps to compile and run a Harbour program?

To compile a Harbour program, you use the Harbour compiler with the filename as an argument. This produces an object file. Then, you use a C compiler to compile this object file into an executable. To run the program, you simply execute the resulting file.

How would you implement exception handling in Harbour?

Exception handling in Harbour can be done using the BEGIN SEQUENCE and RECOVER USING block. Any errors that occur within the BEGIN SEQUENCE block are caught and passed to the RECOVER USING block.

Describe the difference between the HB_DtoC() and HB_CtoD() functions in Harbour.

In Harbour, HB_DtoC() is used to convert a date value to a string, while HB_CtoD() is used to convert a string to a date value.

What is the purpose of the HB_PCount() function in Harbour?

The HB_PCount() function in Harbour is used to get the count of parameters that have been passed to a procedure or function.

How would you use the HB_ValToExp() function in Harbour?

The HB_ValToExp() function in Harbour is used to convert a value to a string expression. It can be useful for debugging purposes.

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Harbour application related

Product Perfect's Harbour development capabilities

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

Harbour Consultive assessments

Custom Harbour development projects

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