Technical interview "C" questions FAQ

What is the data structures used to perform recursion?
Stack. Because of its LIFO (Last In First Out) property it remembers its caller, so knows whom to return when the function has to return. Recursion makes use of system stack for storing the return addresses of the function calls. Every recursive function has its equivalent iterative (non-recursive) function. Even when such equivalent iterative procedures are written, explicit stack is to be used.

http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com

What is a memory leak?
Its an scenario where the program has lost a reference to an area in the memory. Its a programming term describing the loss of memory. This happens when the program allocates some memory but fails to return it to the system

 http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com

printf() Function- What is the difference between "printf(...)" and "sprintf(...)"?
sprintf(...) writes data to the character array whereas printf(...) writes data to the standard output device.

What is data structure?
A data structure is a way of organizing data that considers not only the items stored, but also their relationship to each other. Advance knowledge about the relationship between data items allows designing of efficient algorithms for the manipulation of data.

http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
What are the methods available in storing sequential files ?
Straight merging, Natural merging, Polyphase sort, Distribution of Initial runs.

What is a spanning Tree?
A spanning tree is a tree associated with a network. All the nodes of the graph appear on the tree once. A minimum spanning tree is a spanning tree organized so that the total edge weight between nodes is minimized
http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
If you are using C language to implement the heterogeneous linked list, what pointer type will you use?
The heterogeneous linked list contains different data types in its nodes and we need a link, pointer to connect them. It is not possible to use ordinary pointers for this. So we go for void pointer. Void pointer is capable of storing pointer to any type as it is a generic pointer type.
http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
How do you reverse a linked list without using any C pointers?
One way is to reverse the data in the nodes without changing the pointers themselves. One can also create a new linked list which is the reverse of the original linked list. A simple C program can do that for you. Please note that you would still use the "next" pointer fields to traverse through the linked list (So in effect, you are using the pointers, but you are not changing them when reversing the linked list).
http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
printf() Function
What is the output of printf("%d")?
http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
1. When we write printf("%d",x); this means compiler will print the value of x. But as here, there is nothing after %d so compiler will show in output window garbage value.

2. When we use %d the compiler internally uses it to access the argument in the stack (argument stack). Ideally compiler determines the offset of the data variable depending on the format specification string. Now when we write printf("%d",a) then compiler first accesses the top most element in the argument stack of the printf which is %d and depending on the format string it calculated to offset to the actual data variable in the memory which is to be printed. Now when only %d will be present in the printf then compiler will calculate the correct offset (which will be the offset to access the integer variable) but as the actual data object is to be printed is not present at that memory location so it will print what ever will be the contents of that memory location.

3. Some compilers check the format string and will generate an error without the proper number and type of arguments for things like printf(...) and scanf(...).
http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
List out the areas in which data structures are applied extensively?
Compiler Design, Operating System, Database Management System, Statistical analysis package, Numerical Analysis, Graphics, Artificial Intelligence, Simulation

List out few of the Application of tree data-structure?
The manipulation of Arithmetic expression, Symbol Table construction, Syntax analysis.

Compilation How to reduce a final size of executable?
Size of the final executable can be reduced using dynamic linking for libraries
http://materialsforjob.blogspot.comhttp://materialsforjob.blogspot.com
Given only a pointer to a node to be deleted in a singly linked list, how do you delete it?
The solution to this is to copy the data from the next node into this node and delete the next node!. Ofcourse this wont work if the node to be deleted is the last node. Mark it as dummy in that case. If you have a Circular linked list, then this might be all the more interesting. Try writing your own C program to solve this problem. Having a doubly linked list is always better.

http://materialsforjob.blogspot.com

What is a NULL pointer? How is it different from an unitialized pointer? How is a NULL pointer defined?
Null pointer simply means "I am not allocated yet!" and "I am not pointing to anything yet!".
The C language definition states that for every available pointer type, there is a special value which is called the null pointer. It is guaranteed to compare unequal to a pointer to any object or function.

A null pointer is very different from an uninitialized pointer. A null pointer does not point to any object or function; but an uninitialized pointer can point anywhere.
There is usually a null pointer for each type of a pointer, and the internal values of these null pointers for different pointer types may be different, its up to the compiler. The & operator will never yield a null pointer, nor will a successful call to malloc() (malloc() does return a null pointer when it fails).

execl("/bin/ls", "ls", "-l", (char *)0);
In this call to execl(), the last argument has been explicitly casted to force the 0 to be treated as a pointer.
Also, if ptr is a pointer then
if(ptr){}
and
if(!ptr){}
are perfectly valid.
How is NULL defined?,
ANSI C allows the following definition
#define NULL ((void *)0)
NULL and 0 are interchangeable in pointer contexts.

Make sure you are able to distinguish between the following : the null pointer, the internal representation of a null pointer, the null pointer constant (i.e, 0), the NULL macro, the ASCII null character (NUL), the null string ("").

Posted in: C