Intermediate
29 bites tagged Intermediate — interview questions with model answers, and 60-second explainers.
Which Scrum event best diagnoses systemic failure to deliver a usable Increment?
Tests whether you distinguish process inspection from product inspection. Answer: Sprint Retrospective, because it plans quality and effectiveness improvements and adapts the Definition of Done. Red flag: naming Sprint Review or calling it a blame session.
Explain server.ts and main.ts in Angular Universal
Server.ts SSRs initial HTML via Node/Express; main.ts bootstraps the browser app and hydrates the DOM. First request hits the server; later navigations are client-side only. Angular SSR entry points and hydration.
Describe two key Angular CLI production build optimizations
Tests whether you know architect targets and concrete production optimizations. Strong answers name two of: dead code elimination and minification, hashed filenames for cache busting, or disabled source maps.
What conflicts occur when two designers edit shared styles simultaneously?
Tests real-time style propagation. Strong answers note Figma instantly updates every linked object, so uncoordinated color edits surprise the second designer. Best practice: agree on ownership and publish via the team library.
Write a generic type-safe getProperty using keyof
Command of TypeScript generics and keyof for compile-time property access. Declare generic T, accept key as keyof T, and return T[K]. Using any or string for the key, which erases type safety and allows invalid properties.
How do you read headers and search params in a Route Handler?
Tests fluency with the Web Standard Request API in Next.js App Router. A strong answer uses request.headers.get() for headers and request.nextUrl.searchParams for query params, avoiding Express-style req.query or req.headers.authorization.
GET caching in Route Handlers and how to opt out
Tests App Router GET Route Handler caching and dynamic opt-outs. Hit: export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic', revalidate = 0, dynamic APIs like cookies(), and unstable_noStore(). Red flag: confusing this with Pages Router API routes, dynamic by default.
How do you create a /blog/[slug] route and access the slug value?
Use a [slug] directory with page.js; in App Router read the params prop in server components or useParams in client components. Next.js file-system routing and param access.
Prefer multiple useState or useReducer for multi-field forms?
Separate useState for simple fields; one object for coupled validation or batch resets; useReducer for complex logic. Matching state structure to complexity. Picking one pattern for all forms without discussing coupling.
Explain useReducer and when to prefer it over useState
Tests if you know useReducer centralizes complex state transitions better than scattered useState. Answer: define reducer/dispatch, then contrast with useState via interdependent fields or deep updates. Red flag: calling it only for global state or Redux.
What is the purpose of React's key prop and index key risks?
This tests React reconciliation. Keys give stable identity to match components across renders and preserve state. Indices break on reorder or delete, causing state bugs. A red flag: saying keys are only for performance or indices are harmless.
How do you use a Python class as a FastAPI dependency?
It tests whether you understand FastAPI DI beyond functions and when stateful encapsulation wins. Explain that Depends takes callable classes, centralizing setup and shared state in __init__. Red flag: claiming classes are pure syntactic sugar.
Compare and contrast Apache Airflow versus Kubeflow Pipelines for ML orchestration
This tests matching orchestrators to ML constraints. A strong answer contrasts Airflow's task scheduling and backfills with Kubeflow's K8s-native GPU scaling, choosing based on team skills.
What is GAN mode collapse, its causes, and two mitigations?
Define mode collapse as diversity loss to few modes; cite discriminator imbalance and lenient JS loss; give two fixes: WGAN and mini-batch discrimination. GAN dynamics and divergence.
What is an Xcode Scheme? How do you configure a custom one?
This tests Xcode build orchestration. A scheme is a blueprint for build, test, run, profile, analyze actions; a strong answer covers duplicating it, setting launch arguments, and staging configs. A red flag is confusing schemes with build configurations.
In Go's reflect package, what is settability and how is it obtained?
This tests whether you know reflection mutates only addressable storage. Settability means a Value points to actual memory; obtain it by calling reflect.ValueOf on a pointer then Elem, or on slice elements. Set panics when the Value is a copy, not an address.
Using reflect, iterate a pointer-to-struct's fields
Tests fluency with Go reflection for indirection and field traversal. Outline: ValueOf/TypeOf, guard IsValid, check Kind==Ptr, Elem to struct, loop NumField with Type for names and Value for values. Red flag: Field() on the pointer before Elem panics.
Difference between go build and go install? Cross-compile for ARM64 Linux?
Tests Go toolchain artifact placement and native cross-compilation. A strong answer distinguishes go build (current directory) from go install ($GOBIN), then sets GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 for cross-compilation.
How does cargo differentiate unit and integration tests by location?
This tests Rust test layout conventions. Unit tests live inside src files in cfg(test) modules; integration tests go in top-level tests/ files as separate crates. Red flag: saying integration tests need cfg(test) or can use private APIs.
Parse a string to integer in Go and Rust with errors
This tests whether you map each language's error philosophy to syntax. Outline: Go returns (int, error) and callers check err != nil; Rust returns Result<i32, E> and callers match Ok/Err. Red flag: suggesting exceptions or ignoring Rust's must-use Result.
Which DevTools view diagnoses janky Flutter animations?
Open Performance view; compare UI and Raster bars; flag bars over 16ms; blame UI bloat on builds and Raster jank on shaders or saveLayer. DevTools fluency and frame pipeline anatomy.
In a CustomPainter, what is the purpose of the shouldRepaint method?
This tests Flutter repaint optimization. Answer: shouldRepaint compares old and new delegates, returning true only when visual properties differ so the framework skips paint calls. A red flag is returning true unconditionally, forcing useless repaints.
Explain lifting state up with a concrete scenario and benefits
Tests moving state to a common ancestor when siblings share data. Outline: pick two siblings, hoist state to the parent, pass values and callbacks down. Red flag: mutating a sibling via GlobalKey or choosing Provider before proving the parent cannot own it.
Relationship between Widget, Element, and RenderObject trees and their benefits
Widget configures, Element owns state, RenderObject paints; Element.update reuses the RenderObject, so rebuilds stay cheap. Your understanding of Flutter's three-tree separation of concerns.
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