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C Programming Language Certificate

 
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So I've decided to try my hand at a C Programming Language Certificate and failed by a heartbreaking 6%... From my experience, my comments would be that the exam was fairly straightforward... The tricky parts consisted of obfuscated code statements involving increment and decrement operations between function calls to static storage class variables... To my surprise there weren't any File I/O operations... only simple I/O between the standard streams... There were also some crazy syntax involving access to array elements that I've never seen and hard to decipher nested structs...

Although I left the testing centre pretty disappointed and still am at present ... it was a nice challenge and I see why James Gosling decided to create the Java Programming Language...

Beside my disappointment I still think C is a powerful language that every programmer should learn as it allows direct communication with the [ host ] / [ hardware ] and I will be going at it again...

Anyone willing to try out this cert can find it at C++ Institute
Failure_Snapshot.png
[Thumbnail for Failure_Snapshot.png]
 
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Don't know about functions but pointers are notoriously difficult.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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And bad luck; better luck next time.
 
Rico Felix
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Campbell Ritchie wrote:Don't know about functions but pointers are notoriously difficult.


The problem I had with functions was not having the knowledge that functions in C don't have to declare the return type which will be implicitly inferred as int also not knowing that without an explicit return value garbage will be returned... for each I answered compilation would fail (To much Java in my brain)

I actually enjoy deciphering pointer declarations enjoy_this_t ** (*fun[3])(void (*enjoyable)(int*,char), void*)

Campbell Ritchie wrote:better luck next time.


Thanks pal... I am going in full force next time with knowledge of all the C dialects K&R, C89, C99, C11 as I only read material that covered C99 and C11
 
Rico Felix
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I've nailed it
Success_Snapshot.png
[Thumbnail for Success_Snapshot.png]
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Congratulations
 
Rico Felix
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Thanks
 
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Great job Rico!
I am also preparing for CLA.
 
Rico Felix
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Thanks and that's great... I'm sure you will succeed on the first try

I'm on to CPA next
 
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Hi Rico,

Congratulations first! :-)

Being an old programmer myself, I started with C and later C++. (Then Java, then C#.) So I am interested if there is a certification in C, C++, and if there still is a job market for it. About the exam, how tricky is it? Can you compare it to SCJP/OCPJP? I did SCJP5 years ago. I found it doable, but there were a few questions that were very detailed. Like you have to see if there is a semicolon missing in a piece of code and then choose, does not compile, instead of the logically right answer without the little syntax error. Is it like that? I really disliked those trick questions. If there is a ';' missing, the compiler can check that in a millisecond.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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There is still no end of interest in C and C++.
 
Rico Felix
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@Jan de Boer This particular level of the certification is not difficult at all... I've never known C as I'm actually new to programming with Java being my introduction language to the field...

The exam is basically on basic programming concepts using the C syntax and programming philosophy which are:
  • Defining symbolic constants and using the preprocessor directives effectively
  • Control structures such as if, else, switch
  • Iteration statements such as while, do-while, for
  • Using the library functions for string manipulation and I/O operations
  • Type conversions
  • Function declaration and definition
  • Storage classes and scope


  • All these will be tested based on the ANSI version of the language and not the new C11 standard...

    For absolute success simply read this book
     
    Jan de Boer
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    Ha ha Felix, I bought that exact book in 1991! I have still got it somewhere.
     
    Rico Felix
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    Was just saying...
     
    Campbell Ritchie
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    I have heard people say that C is a successful language partially because of the excellence of that book, which is the “official” book about C.
     
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    Campbell Ritchie wrote:I have heard people say that C is a successful language partially because of the excellence of that book, which is the “official” book about C.



    Yes. It was the main documentation/specification back in the day. Also it's incredibly easy and even fun to read, totally unlike the JLS.
     
    Campbell Ritchie
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    What's wrong with reading the JLS? 
     
    Guillermo Ishi
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    I guess there's no accounting for taste
     
    The problems of the world fade way as you eat a piece of pie. This tiny ad has never known problems:
    a bit of art, as a gift, the permaculture playing cards
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