21 Funny Bone What Makes the Programmer Challenge Fun Which of the following companies, if it had never existed, would invalidate most of the inside jokes in the Programmer Challenge? -a. Ion Storm -b. Digital Anvil -c. Microsoft *d. All of the Above question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. Task Chairs Example Explanation question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. Cooking w/ Carmack Example Explanation question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. Back to BASICs Example Explanation question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. French Literature Example Explanation question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. UNIX Beards Example Explanation question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. X is for XBox Example Explanation question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. question *a. -b. -c. -d. Caffeine++ Programmer Nutrition How many holes are there in the bottom of a Twinkie? -a. 1 -b. 2 *c. 3 -d. Can be adjusted at Twinkie Headquarters Which of the following foods is generally better for you? -a. Brussel Sprouts -b. Textured Vegetable Protein -c. Liquified Wheat Grass *d. Don't know/care For what soft drink has Bill Gates done a commercial? -a. Microsoft Carbonated Drink for Windows *b. Coke -c. Pepsi -d. Nyquil What fast food restaurant chain is honored in Windows as a segment name? -a. McDonalds -b. Jack in the Box -c. Wendy's *d. BurgerMaster How many calories are there in a can of Mountain Dew? -a. 140 -b. 150 *c. 170 -d. All calories worked off during Extreme Programming Whack && Dash Command Line Switches What Windows NT rmdir switch will recursively remove all subdirectories and files? *a. /S -b. /R -c. /P -d. /OOPS What PKZip 2.04 switch turns on maximum compression? -a. -9 -b. -please take a long time and save me 1K -c. -m *d. -ex What MSVC cl switch turns on C++ RTTI? *a. /GR+ -b. /GT+ -c. /GI+ -d. /Bjarne++ What UNIX tar switch lists the contents of a .tar file? -a. -l *b. -t -c. -p -d. -regexp[list|1..9] +stallman -gates What MSVC cl switch allows the compiler to use the x86 FIST instruction? -a. /Oxfist *b. /QIfist -c. /OUp2Elbow -d. /Ofst Codepourri Random Acts of Coding What happens when a %n is placed inside a printf format string? *a. stores the number of characters written up to that point -b. prints a natural number -c. prints the number of newlines indicated by the argument -d. doesn't print anything (it's an invalid format) When you're debugging your program in MSVC 6.0, what key combination will bring up the breakpoints window? -a. F8 -b. F9 *c. ALT-F9 -d. CTRL-F9 In C++, if a class B is derived from class A, and both declare a protected virtual function f(), who's f() is called if an object of class B calls f() on an object of class A? -a. A -b. B -c. Depends on the actual type of the object *d. It's a compiler error What do the following x86 instructions do? cwd xor ax,dx sub ax,dx -a. Exchange AX and DX *b. Take the absolute value of AX -c. Count the number of bits set in AX -d. Emails a copy of itself to everyone in your Exchange Outlook Personal Address Book Which of the following hexadecimal values most closely approximates pi in single-precision IEEE format? -a. 0x12043D03 *b. 0x40490FDB -c. 0xDEADBEEF -d. 0x907C2D04 Roots Computer History When Nolan Bushnell was first asked to fix his broken Pong machine, what did he find as the problem? -a. It had been accidentally unplugged *b. The quarter receptacle was overfull -c. Someone had jammed gum into the paddle controller -d. WindowsCE had GP-faulted Which presidential hopeful almost bought Microsoft? -a. Steve Forbes -b. Dan Quayle *c. Ross Perot -d. Jesse "The Body" Ventura Who said "The PC will fall flat on its face in business"? -a. T. J. Watson -b. Bill Gates -c. Paul Allen *d. Ken Olson Which C runtime library function did Richie say he'd like to go back and rename? *a. _creat -b. strstr -c. atoi -d. pstrtoftok_n In the company name "Ashton Tate", are Ashton and Tate real people? -a. Both are -b. Neither are -c. Ashton is, Tate isn't *d. Tate is, Ashton isn't alt.2600 Hacking and Other Illegal Activities How did Captain Crunch get his name? -a. From the unusually loud sound he made while chewing -b. From a bout with lockjaw *c. From the toy surprise inside a cereal box -d. From his long and distinguished record of service in the Crunchberry Navy Who was Rocky Clarke? -a. Coolio -b. Kevin Mitnik -c. Flying squirrel *d. Steve Wozniak What color box will add the ABCD keys to your touch-tone phone? *a. Silver -b. White -c. Red -d. Blue What does an ANAC number do? *a. Recites any number that calls it -b. Provides limited access to free long distance calls -c. Makes a call more difficult to trace -d. Counts down the time before the police finish torching through your door What does the phrase "we're out of toilet paper in Chicago" mean? -a. Your line is tapped -b. You've been wired -c. Don't buy used undies in Illinois *d. You didn't know what else to say to President Nixon [3] 3D Graphics How many tristrips does it take to render a simple cube? *a. 1 -b. 2 -c. 3 -d. 4 If a vertex is transformed by a matrix A, by what matrix should its normal be transformed? -a. A -b. A^-1 *c. (A^-1)^T -d. I What does a Householder matrix do to a vector? -a. Axis-aligned rotation -b. Row or column permutation -c. Make it really really long *d. Planar reflection What is the resulting vector when a vector {x, y, z} is crossed with the Z axis? -a. { y, x, 0} -b. {-y, x, 0} *c. { y, -x, 0} -d. {-y, -x, 0} In a nonuniform, nonrational B-spline, what does the term "nonuniform" refer to? *a. The parameter interval between successive knot values -b. The number of weights per knot -c. The continuity of the curve -d. The curve may be casually dressed No Pain No Game Questions Deemed Too Offensive to be Used What does the "X" in Microsoft's "XBox" stand for? -a. "Ex", as in it will be eventually cancelled like all other Microsoft console plans -b. "X-rated", since it will be primarily marketed as a DVD porn playback device -c. "Excrement", a polite form of the words you'll use when WindowsCE crashes right before you beat the high score *d. We're not allowed to say because not everyone has signed an NDA What phrase does Ion Storm have trademarked? -a. "When it's done" -b. "Can we PLEASE have another $13 million?" -c. "Does anyone know what year is it?" *d. "Suck it down." Which of the following Academy Award winning films was directed by Chris Roberts? -a. American Beauty Commander -b. Titanic Commander -c. Commander in Love *d. None of the above Commander What phrase was used by Mike Wilson as a signal to the Ion Eight that it was time to resign? -a. "Resign is law" -b. "We're being audited" *c. "The monkey has landed" -d. "We've got your big sword right here" Which of the following inflatible love toys was actually designed and sold by a FPS company? -a. Duke Nukem Spreadable Action Figure (3D Realms) -b. Cyberdaemon w/ Full Rocket (id Software) *c. The Love Ewe (Ritual Entertainment) -d. Lara Croft (Eidos) Funny Business Game Company Business Nuggets Which IHV made three times more money on Internet investments last quarter than it did on sound hardware? *a. Creative Labs -b. Aureal -c. Cambridge Soundworks -d. MediaVision What game publisher offered to buy id software? -a. Activision -b. GT Interactive -c. Eidos *d. Sierra Where did the name "Maxis" come from? -a. A character in a comic book -b. The word "Maximum" *c. A time of day -d. Random phrase that sounded cool What game did Steve Jobs program for Atari? -a. Warlords -b. Space Invaders *c. Breakout -d. WozScrewer 2000 Where did the name "S3" come from? -a. Sight Sound Sense -b. Slightly Slower than Software -c. Sight and Sound Startup *d. Ordinal numbering of startup ventures NTA Name That Acronym SDRAM *a. Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory -b. Synchronous Dual Random Access Memory -c. Static Dual Random Access Memory -d. Screw the Damn Rambus Added Markup DHCP -a. Distributed Host Contention Protocol *b. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol -c. Domain Host Configuration Protocol -d. Darn Hard to Configure Protocol VESA -a. Video Extension Specification Agreement -b. VGA Extension Standard Adapter *c. Video Electronics Standards Association -d. Vill Evryone Schtop Arguing! PCMCIA -a. Peripheral Component Management Connection Interface Adapter *b. Personal Computer Memory Card International Association -c. Personal Computer MicroChannel Interface Architecture -d. Please Cease Mutilating Cattle in Arizona ATAPI -a. Another Tricky Acronym for a Peripheral Interface -b. IBM AT Adaptive Peripheral Interface -c. Advanced Technology Automated Peripheral Interface *d. Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface Pain and Suffering The Win32 API How do you stop the Start Menu from popping up during a game? *a. Pry the keys off with a screwdriver -b. Back end of a hammer -c. Nail file -d. Buy an older keyboard On a Windows 95 or NT 3.51 machine with MSWheel running, what message is sent to an application when the mouse wheel is moved? -a. WM_WHEEL -b. WM_MOUSEWHEEL -c. MSH_WHEEL *d. MSH_MOUSEWHEEL What function would you use to access 254 colors in a Windows palletized display? -a. SetSysColors -b. SetSysColorsEx *c. SetSystemPaletteUse -d. "236 colors should be enough for everybody." - Bill Gates Which of the following Win32 APIs doesn't actually exist? *a. NetbiosEx -b. BuildImpersonateExplicitAccessWithName -c. IsBadHugeReadPtr -d. DlgDirSelectEx Which of the following is not a control flag for DDPIXELFORMAT? -a. DDPF_ZPIXELS -b. DDPF_PALETTEINDEXEDTO8 *c. DDPF_RGBALPHA -d. DDPF_RGBTOYUV Silver CRT Computers in Movies In general, how many guesses does it take to guess a password? -a. 1,000 -b. 1,000,000 -c. 1,000,000,000 *d. 2 In the movie Tron, what object was teleported across the room as a demonstration? -a. Apple *b. Orange -c. Watermelon -d. Pineapple What was the first movie to feature Robby the Robot? -a. Dark Star -b. Black Hole *c. Forbidden Planet -d. The Manchurian Candidate What does "HAL" stand for? -a. Heuristic Artificial Lifeform *b. Heuristic ALgorithmic -c. Nothing - it's simply one letter before I, B, and M -d. Hierarchical Algebra Language What brand of computer did David Lightman own in WarGames? -a. Apple -b. Commodore *c. Imsai -d. Timex Artsy Fartsy Interpret the Closed Polygon 0,0 0,1 1,1 1,0 -a. Pineapple *b. Square -c. Mardis Gras Hat -d. Margarita Glass 0,0 2,4 4,0 2,1 -a. Shovel -b. Down Arrow *c. Star Trek Communicator -d. Bowl 0,0 0,1 1,2 2,1 2,0 -a. Up arrow -b. Diamond *c. House -d. Gorilla 2,0 2,1 0,1 3,6 6,1 4,1 4,0 *a. Tree -b. Star -c. Hat -d. BFG 9000 0,1 0,2 1,3 2,3 3,2 3,1 2,0 1,0 -a. Pentagram -b. Mountain -c. Wave *d. Stop Sign Fame Famous Programming Techniques What is the Shell Sort named for? *a. Some guy named "Shell" -b. The shuffling style it uses -c. "Bubble" was already taken -d. It was originally programmed as a UNIX shell script What test is used to determine if a suspect is a Replicant? -a. Turing Test -b. Pepsi Challenge *c. Voight-Kampf Test -d. LSAT scores What is the better known name for the wavelets corresponding to the "box basis"? -a. B-spline wavelets -b. Daubechies wavelets -c. 2-disk wavelets *d. Haar wavelets Which of the following transforms produces complex numbers as output? -a. Discrete Cosine Transform -b. Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform *c. Fast Fourier Transform -d. Burrows-Wheeler Transform Who wrote the first commercial-grade linear programming solver in 1954? *a. Orchard-Hays -b. Dantzig -c. von Neumann -d. Jesse "The Body" Ventura Fight Mike The Notrious Story Problems Category Game companies have a P.E. ratio of 20, but Internet companies have a P.E. ratio of 320. Everytime "PowerPlay" is mentioned, Valve's potential IPO price doubles. How many times must we discuss PowerPlay, before Valve can go public at an Internet price? -a. 2 *b. 4 -c. 6 -d. Ain't gonna' happen. LithTech updates their plan files with a ***Major Announcement*** every day. Epic responds with a rebuttal plan file every day. LithTech then rebutts the rebuttal every day. Once every two weeks, id posts a plan file that no one understands. How many plan file updates are made in four weeks? -a. 52 *b. 86 -c. 102 -d. Don't know - Quakefinger is down! Ion Storm takes 6 years to ship a product. Digital Anvil takes 8. How long would it take the two companies to ship a product together? -a. 7 years -b. 5 1/2 years -c. 4 2/3 years *d. 3 1/8 years Ion Storm is trying to scrape together rent from Todd Porter's pension, the Ion Office Marble Floor fund, and a car they repossessed from Mike Wilson. The combined value of the pension and the floor fund is $18k. The combined value of the floor fund and the repo'd car is $21k. The value of pension and the car is $23k. What are the individual values of each item? *a. Pension $10k, Floor $8k, Repo'd Car $13k -b. Pension $12k, Floor $11k, Repo'd Car $9k -c. Pension $11k, Floor $9k, Repo'd Car $11k -d. Pension $9k, Floor $13k, Repo'd Car $11k Since the XBox will be running Windows, Microsoft added $5 to the price of each XBox in order to include the necessary Control, Alt, and Delete keys. The ratio of the cost of the Control key to the cost of both the Alt and Delete keys was 3 to 2. The Alt key cost $.40 more than the Delete key. How much did it cost to add the Delete key? -a. $0.30 -b. $0.40 *c. $0.80 -d. $1.20