* how can computer technology be integrated in an elevator system for a
hundred story office building?
how do you optimize for availability? how would variation of traffic over a
typical work week or floor or time of day affect this?
* how would you redesign an atm?
* suppose we wanted to run a microwave oven from the computer. what kind of software would you write to do this?
* how would you design a coffee-machine for an automobile.
thinkers
* how are m&ms made?
* if you had to learn a new computer language, how would you go about doing it?
* if ms told you we were willing to invest $5 million in a start up of your
choice, what business would you start? why?
* if you could gather all of the computer manufacturers in the world together into one room and then tell them one thing that they would be compelled to do, what would it be?
* explain a scenario for testing a salt shaker.
* if you are going to receive an award in 5 years, what is it for and who is
the audience?
* how would you explain how to use microsoft excel to your grandma?
* why is it that when you turn on the hot water in any hotel, for example,
the hot water comes pouring out almost instantaneously?
algorithms
* what’s the difference between a linked list and an array?
* implement an algorithm to sort a linked list. why did you pick the method
you did?
* implement an algorithm to sort an array. why did you pick the method you did?
* implement strstr() (or some other string library function).
* reverse a string. optimize for speed. optimize for space.
* count the number of set bits in a number. now optimize for speed. now
optimize for size.
* how would you find a cycle in a linked list?
* give me an algorithm to shuffle a deck of cards, given that the cards are
stored in an array of ints.
* write a function that takes in a string parameter and checks to see whether or not it is an integer, and if it is then return the integer value.
* write a function to print all of the permutations of a string.
* implement malloc.
* write a function to print the fibonacci numbers.
* write a function to copy two strings, a and b. the last few bytes of string
a overlap the first few bytes of string b.
* how would you print out the data in a binary tree, level by level, starting
at the top?