Everything in Backend Dev, page 25
Design a safe Rust wrapper taking &[i32] and returning Vec<i32>
Tests Rust FFI buffer-output encapsulation. A strong answer declares an unsafe extern C block, allocates a Vec with capacity, passes as_mut_ptr and a local size_t, validates returned length, then calls set_len.
Implement a custom derive macro for a Builder pattern
Tests proc-macro AST transformation. A strong answer lists: parse TokenStream with syn into DeriveInput, inspect fields, then quote builder code as TokenStream, noting the separate proc-macro crate. Red flag: treating tokens as strings instead of AST nodes.
What are Rust's three procedural macros and derive's advantage over macro_rules?
Tests Rust macros and AST generation vs text macros. Lists derive, attribute-like, and function-like macros, then explains derive needs AST introspection for per-field impl unreachable with macro_rules. Red flag: that macro_rules can iterate struct fields.
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.
What does unsafe enable in Go and Rust? List two operations.
Go unsafe enables pointer arithmetic and type punning; Rust unsafe permits raw pointer dereferencing and FFI.
What are Rust's two macro categories and use cases?
Name macro_rules! for syntax like vec!, and procedural macros for custom derive on structs.
What is go generate and how does it differ from make?
This tests whether go generate is a pre-build code generator, not a build system. Strong answers cover //go:generate directives, no dependency analysis, and committing generated files. A red flag is calling it a make replacement or an automatic build step.
Compare Go and Rust approaches to exposing profiling data
Contrast Go's pprof import with Rust crates or profilers, noting runtime versus OS-level sampling.
Explain fuzz testing and set up a basic fuzz test
This tests coverage-guided fuzzing and toolchain wiring. Strong answer: defines fuzzing as automated input mutation driven by code coverage, contrasts it with hand-written examples, and sketches Go's FuzzXxx or Rust's cargo-fuzz setup.
Generate a Go CPU profile and visualize it as a flame graph
This tests Go profiling workflow and flame graph literacy. A good answer covers net/http/pprof setup, go tool pprof collection, flame graph generation, and reading width as cumulative CPU time and height as call depth. Red flag: width means call count.
How do you use ResetTimer, StopTimer, and RunParallel in Go benchmarks?
Tests Go benchmark timer hygiene and parallel execution. A strong answer covers b.StopTimer before setup, b.ResetTimer before the loop, and b.RunParallel for CPU-bound scaling. A red flag is resetting without stopping or using parallel benchmarks for I/O.
What is go test -race and when is it crucial?
This tests knowledge of Go's race detector. A strong answer says -race instruments code to detect racy reads/writes, finds data races not deadlocks, and is crucial for concurrent apps under load.
How does Rust differentiate unit and integration tests?
Tests Rust test layout and privacy. Unit tests sit in src/ under #[cfg(test)] and call private functions via super::. Integration tests go in tests/ as external crates. Wrong: claiming it blocks private testing or merging them into src/.
How do you write a table-driven test in Go?
Tests idiomatic Go test design. A strong answer: slice/map of structs with inputs/expected outputs, loop with t.Run for named subtests, and cite DRY code, parallelization, and failure isolation. Red flag: separate Test functions per case or omitting t.Run.
Compare Go's []byte and Rust's &[u8]
Tests memory-model depth: Go slices are GC-managed headers (ptr, len, cap) permitting shared mutation, while Rust &[u8] is a borrow-checked fat pointer (ptr, len) enforcing aliasing-XOR-mutation.
Compare Go's error tuples to Rust's Result for I/O
Tests trade-offs between Go's explicit error returns and Rust's Result type. Contrast Go's inline err checks with Rust's ? operator, noting verbosity versus compile-time exhaustiveness. Never call Result an exception or claim Go ignores errors.
Compare efficient line-by-line file reading in Go and Rust
Go uses bufio.Scanner with ScanLines/Scan(); Rust uses BufReader with lines() or read_line().
Serialize a Go struct to JSON and contrast with Rust
This tests fluency in Go's encoding/json versus Rust's derive macro ecosystem. Go: call json.Marshal on exported fields; Rust: derive Serialize, then serde_json::to_string. Red flag: claiming Rust uses std-only serialization or that Go needs external crates.
Build a TCP server in Go and Rust using standard libraries
Tests standard-library networking APIs in both languages. Strong answer: Go's net.Listen with Accept loop vs Rust's std::net::TcpListener::bind and incoming iterator. Red flag: reaching for HTTP or async frameworks instead of core TCP primitives.
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