Most Important Interview Questions Flashcards

1
Q

What is an atom?

A

An irreducible value of a specific data type.

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2
Q

What is a list?

A

An ordered collection of atoms/other lists.

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3
Q

What is a dictionary?

A

An association between a list of keys and a list of values.

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4
Q

What is a table?

A

An arrangement of information or data, typically in rows and columns. A q table is essentially a collection of named columns implemented as a dictionary.

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5
Q

What is a keyed table?

A

A table where one or more columns are keys, and the rest of the row’s information are the associated values similar to dictionary keys and value pairs.

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6
Q

How do you key a table?

A

(newKey) xkey (tableName)

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7
Q

What would you use to find the prevailing quote at the time of a trade?

A

Asof join

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8
Q

How would you select the sym column from a table in QSQL?

A

select sym from table

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9
Q

What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous connections.

A

Async messages (neg) are similar to set. Request is sent to server, but the client does not wait for a result. Used when a result is not required by the client. Synchronous (similar to get) is used when a result is required by the client.

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10
Q

How do you calculate vwap?

A

select vwap: size wavg price from table.

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11
Q

What is fby?

A

Function by, used to apply a function and return selected columns only from a table, avoids creating an intermediary table.

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12
Q

What are the 5th and 6th arguments of functional select?

A

The 5th argument is the window used to select n specific rows from table. The 6th argument is the index specification argument used to select the indices wanted from the new table.

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13
Q

What is a compound column?

A

A column containing lists.

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14
Q

How to save to a compressed file?

A

Using set, with a left argument that specifies the target directory and right arguments are compression options.

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15
Q

How would you open a port connection in a server process and connect to it in a client process

A

-p 5000 or \p 5000

h: hopen 5000

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16
Q

Name all of the attributes?

A

Grouped, Unique, Parted, Sorted.

17
Q

Name all of the joins.

A

Simple, Left, Inner, Union, Asof Join

18
Q

Use fby in QSQL

A

Select from table where price>[avg;price] fby sym

19
Q

What are foreign keys?

A

Foreign keys are enumerated lists used to link the enumeration to the original table in local memory???

20
Q

What is the structure/layout of a partitioned table?

A

A partitioned database is saved as
db
dates
quotes
.d
price

21
Q

What is in the .d file?

A

The .d file lists the columns in the order they appear in the table. It contains the schema of a splayed/partitioned table.

22
Q

What is a sym file?

A

The sym file holds the unique symbols and their associated enumerations.

23
Q

How would you load and save a csv?

A

read0: (zero read) :filedirectory to read csv in. save :table.csv to save to csv

24
Q

What is a use for sorted attribute?

A

Enables binary search, more efficient than linear search.

25
Q

What is a use for parted attribute?

A

Usually applied to sym column on disk (#g in memory)