SOFTWARE INTERVIEW TIPS

How to set cookies?

setcookie('variable','value','time')
;
variable - name of the cookie variable
value - value of the cookie variable
time - expiry time
Example: setcookie('Test',$i,time()+3600);

Test - cookie variable name
$i - value of the variable 'Test'
time()+3600 - denotes that the cookie will expire after an one hour

How to reset/destroy a cookie
Reset a cookie by specifying expire time in the past:
Example: setcookie('Test',$i,time()-3600); // already expired time

Reset a cookie by specifying its name only
Example: setcookie('Test');

WHAT TYPES OF IMAGES THAT PHP SUPPORTS?

Using imagetypes() function to find out what types of images are supported in your PHP engine.
imagetypes() - Returns the image types supported.
This function returns a bit-field corresponding to the image formats supported by the version of GD linked into PHP. The following bits are returned, IMG_GIF | IMG_JPG | IMG_PNG | IMG_WBMP | IMG_XPM.

CHECK IF A VARIABLE IS AN INTEGER IN JAVASCRIPT
var myValue =9.8;
if(parseInt(myValue)== myValue)
alert('Integer');
else
alert('Not an integer');


Tools used for drawing ER diagrams.
Case Studio
Smart Draw

How can I know that a variable is a number or not using a JavaScript?

Answer 1:
bool is_numeric( mixed var)
Returns TRUE if var is a number or a numeric string, FALSE otherwise.

Answer 2:
Definition and Usage
The isNaN() function is used to check if a value is not a number.

Syntax
isNaN(number)

Parameter Description
number Required. The value to be tested

How can we submit from without a submit button?

Trigger the JavaScript code on any event ( like onSelect of drop down list box, onfocus, etc ) document.myform.submit(); This will submit the form.

How many ways can we get the value of current session id?

session_id() returns the session id for the current session.


How can we destroy the cookie?

Set the cookie with a past expiration time.

What are the current versions of Apache, PHP, and MySQL?

PHP: PHP 5.1.2
MySQL: MySQL 5.1
Apache: Apache 2.1

What are the reasons for selecting LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Php) instead of combination of other software programs, servers and operating systems?

All of those are open source resource. Security of linux is very very more than windows. Apache is a better server that IIS both in functionality and security. Mysql is world most popular open source database. Php is more faster that asp or any other scripting language.

What are the features and advantages of OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING?

One of the main advantages of OO programming is its ease of modification; objects can easily be modified and added to a system there by reducing maintenance costs. OO programming is also considered to be better at modeling the real world than is procedural programming. It allows for more complicated and flexible interactions. OO systems are also easier for non-technical personnel to understand and easier for them to participate in the maintenance and enhancement of a system because it appeals to natural human cognition patterns. For some systems, an OO approach can speed development time since many objects are standard across systems and can be reused. Components that manage dates, shipping, shopping carts, etc. can be purchased and easily modified for a specific system.

What is the use of friend function?


Friend functions
Sometimes a function is best shared among a number of different classes. Such functions can be declared either as member functions of one class or as global functions. In either case they can be set to be friends of other classes, by using a friend specifier in the class that is admitting them. Such functions can use all attributes of the class which names them as a friend, as if they were themselves members of that class.
A friend declaration is essentially a prototype for a member function, but instead of requiring an implementation with the name of that class attached by the double colon syntax, a global function or member function of another class provides the match.
class mylinkage
{
private:
mylinkage * prev;
mylinkage * next;

protected:
friend void set_prev(mylinkage* L, mylinkage* N);
void set_next(mylinkage* L);

public:
mylinkage * succ();
mylinkage * pred();
mylinkage();
};

void mylinkage::set_next(mylinkage* L) { next = L; }

void set_prev(mylinkage * L, mylinkage * N ) { N->prev = L; }

Friends in other classes
It is possible to specify a member function of another class as a friend as follows:
class C
{
friend int B::f1();
};
class B
{
int f1();
};

It is also possible to specify all the functions in another class as friends, by specifying the entire class as a friend.
class A
{
friend class B;
};

Friend functions allow binary operators to be defined which combine private data in a pair of objects. This is particularly powerful when using the operator overloading features of C++. We will return to it when we look at overloading.

How can we get second of the current time using date function?

$second = date("s");

What is the maximum size of a file that can be uploaded using PHP and how can we change this?
You can change maximum size of a file set upload_max_filesize variable in php.ini file

How can I make a script that can be bilingual (supports English, German)?

You can change charset variable in above line in the script to support bilanguage.

What are the difference between abstract class and interface?

Abstract class: abstract classes are the class where one or more methods are abstract but not necessarily all method has to be abstract. Abstract methods are the methods, which are declare in its class but not define. The definition of those methods must be in its extending class.

Interface: Interfaces are one type of class where all the methods are abstract. That means all the methods only declared but not defined. All the methods must be define by its implemented class.

What are the advantages of stored procedures, triggers, indexes?

A stored procedure is a set of SQL commands that can be compiled and stored in the server. Once this has been done, clients don't need to keep re-issuing the entire query but can refer to the stored procedure. This provides better overall performance because the query has to be parsed only once, and less information needs to be sent between the server and the client. You can also raise the conceptual level by having libraries of functions in the server. However, stored procedures of course do increase the load on the database server system, as more of the work is done on the server side and less on the client (application) side. Triggers will also be implemented. A trigger is effectively a type of stored procedure, one that is invoked when a particular event occurs. For example, you can install a stored procedure that is triggered each time a record is deleted from a transaction table and that stored procedure automatically deletes the corresponding customer from a customer table when all his transactions are deleted. Indexes are used to find rows with specific column values quickly. Without an index, MySQL must begin with the first row and then read through the entire table to find the relevant rows. The larger the table, the more this costs. If the table has an index for the columns in question, MySQL can quickly determine the position to seek to in the middle of the data file without having to look at all the data. If a table has 1,000 rows, this is at least 100 times faster than reading sequentially. If you need to access most of the rows, it is faster to read sequentially, because this minimizes disk seeks.

What is maximum size of a database in mysql?

If the operating system or filesystem places a limit on the number of files in a directory, MySQL is bound by that constraint. The efficiency of the operating system in handling large numbers of files in a directory can place a practical limit on the number of tables in a database. If the time required to open a file in the directory increases significantly as the number of files increases, database performance can be adversely affected.
The amount of available disk space limits the number of tables.
MySQL 3.22 had a 4GB (4 gigabyte) limit on table size. With the MyISAM storage engine in MySQL 3.23, the maximum table size was increased to 65536 terabytes (2567 – 1 bytes). With this larger allowed table size, the maximum effective table size for MySQL databases is usually determined by operating system constraints on file sizes, not by MySQL internal limits.
The InnoDB storage engine maintains InnoDB tables within a tablespace that can be created from several files. This allows a table to exceed the maximum individual file size. The tablespace can include raw disk partitions, which allows extremely large tables. The maximum tablespace size is 64TB.
The following table lists some examples of operating system file-size limits. This is only a rough guide and is not intended to be definitive. For the most up-to-date information, be sure to check the documentation specific to your operating system.
Operating System File-size Limit
Linux 2.2-Intel 32-bit 2GB (LFS: 4GB)
Linux 2.4+ (using ext3 filesystem) 4TB
Solaris 9/10 16TB
NetWare w/NSS filesystem 8TB
Win32 w/ FAT/FAT32 2GB/4GB
Win32 w/ NTFS 2TB (possibly larger)
MacOS X w/ HFS+ 2TB

Explain normalization concept?

The normalization process involves getting our data to conform to three progressive normal forms, and a higher level of normalization cannot be achieved until the previous levels have been achieved (there are actually five normal forms, but the last two are mainly academic and will not be discussed).

First Normal Form
The First Normal Form (or 1NF) involves removal of redundant data from horizontal rows. We want to ensure that there is no duplication of data in a given row, and that every column stores the least amount of information possible (making the field atomic).

Second Normal Form
Where the First Normal Form deals with redundancy of data across a horizontal row, Second Normal Form (or 2NF) deals with redundancy of data in vertical columns. As stated earlier, the normal forms are progressive, so to achieve Second Normal Form, your tables must already be in First Normal Form.

Third Normal Form
I have a confession to make; I do not often use Third Normal Form. In Third Normal Form we are looking for data in our tables that is not fully dependant on the primary key, but dependant on another value in the table

What’s the difference between accessing a class method via -> and via ::?

:: is allowed to access methods that can perform static operations, i.e. those, which do not require object initialization.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of CASCADE STYLE SHEETS?

External Style Sheets
Advantages
Can control styles for multiple documents at once Classes can be created for use on multiple HTML element types in many documents Selector and grouping methods can be used to apply styles under complex contexts

Disadvantages
An extra download is required to import style information for each document The rendering of the document may be delayed until the external style sheet is loaded Becomes slightly unwieldy for small quantities of style definitions

Embedded Style Sheets
Advantages
Classes can be created for use on multiple tag types in the document Selector and grouping methods can be used to apply styles under complex contexts No additional downloads necessary to receive style information

Disadvantage
This method can not control styles for multiple documents at once

Inline Styles
Advantages
Useful for small quantities of style definitions Can override other style specification methods at the local level so only exceptions need to be listed in conjunction with other style methods

Disadvantages
Does not distance style information from content (a main goal of SGML/HTML) Can not control styles for multiple documents at once Author can not create or control classes of elements to control multiple element types within the document Selector grouping methods can not be used to create complex element addressing scenarios

What type of inheritance that php supports?

In PHP an extended class is always dependent on a single base class, that is, multiple inheritance is not supported. Classes are extended using the keyword 'extends'.

How can increase the performance of MySQL select query?

We can use LIMIT to stop MySql for further search in table after we have received our required no. of records, also we can use LEFT JOIN or RIGHT JOIN instead of full join in cases we have related data in two or more tables.

How can we change the name of a column of a table?

MySQL query to rename table: RENAME TABLE tbl_name TO new_tbl_name
or,
ALTER TABLE tableName CHANGE OldName newName.

When you want to show some part of a text displayed on an HTML page in red font color? What different possibilities are there to do this? What are the advantages/disadvantages of these methods?

There are 2 ways to show some part of a text in red:

1. Using HTML tag
2. Using HTML tag

When viewing an HTML page in a Browser, the Browser often keeps this page in its cache. What can be possible advantages/disadvantages of page caching? How can you prevent caching of a certain page (please give several alternate solutions)?

When you use the metatag in the header section at the beginning of an HTML Web page, the Web page may still be cached in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

A page that Internet Explorer is browsing is not cached until half of the 64 KB buffer is filled. Usually, metatags are inserted in the header section of an HTML document, which appears at the beginning of the document. When the HTML code is parsed, it is read from top to bottom. When the metatag is read, Internet Explorer looks for the existence of the page in cache at that exact moment. If it is there, it is removed. To properly prevent the Web page from appearing in the cache, place another header section at the end of the HTML document. For example:

What are the different ways to login to a remote server? Explain the means, advantages and disadvantages?

There is at least 3 ways to logon to a remote server:
Use ssh or telnet if you concern with security
You can also use rlogin to logon to a remote server.

Please give a regular expression (preferably Perl/PREG style), which can be used to identify the URL from within a HTML link tag.
Try this: /href="([^"]*)"/i

How can I use the COM components in php?

The COM class provides a framework to integrate (D)COM components into your PHP scripts.
string COM::COM( string module_name [, string server_name [, int codepage]]) - COM class constructor.

Parameters:

module_name: name or class-id of the requested component.
server_name: name of the DCOM server from which the component should be fetched. If NULL, localhost is assumed. To allow DCOM com, allow_dcom has to be set to TRUE in php.ini.
codepage - specifies the codepage that is used to convert php-strings to unicode-strings and vice versa. Possible values are CP_ACP, CP_MACCP, CP_OEMCP, CP_SYMBOL, CP_THREAD_ACP, CP_UTF7 and CP_UTF8.
Usage:
$word->Visible = 1; //open an empty document
$word->Documents->Add(); //do some weird stuff
$word->Selection->TypeText("This is a test…");
$word->Documents[1]->SaveAs("Useless test.doc"); //closing word
$word->Quit(); //free the object
$word->Release();
$word = null;

How many ways we can give the output to a browser?

HTML output
PHP, ASP, JSP, Servlet Function
Script Language output Function
Different Type of embedded Package to output to a browser

What is the default session time in php and how can I change it?

The default session time in php is until closing of browser

What changes I have to do in php.ini file for file uploading?

Make the following line uncomment like:
; Whether to allow HTTP file uploads.
file_uploads = On
; Temporary directory for HTTP uploaded files (will use system default if not
; specified).
upload_tmp_dir = C:\apache2triad\temp
; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize = 2M