Post by thread:[EE]: Programmer

David, Where is your company located? Andre Apologies if anyone thinks this shouldn't be in the [PIC]: category but it does include code and I need to gain the attention of the gurus on this list. You all know who you are ;-) My company needs to be able to select a suitable candidate for employment on a short term contract. The job is for an experienced MPASM programmer on 16F87* or 16F62* series micros. The basic application includes real time control of high voltage DC, AC phase control, A-D, I2C and serial port communication, user interface, EEPROM etc. The skill set basically needs to include a good understanding of the Microchip parts and most of the onboard peripherals. In order to aid the selection process it has been decided to ask the candidates to complete a questionaire containing around 20 multiple choice questions immediately before their interview. The whole questionaire should take less than 30 minutes to complete. Can anyone help me out by suggesting a few relatively simple questions that would test the knowledge of a suitable candidate. The sort of questions I have in mind might be: Question 1: A 16F877 is to be used with a 20MHz crystal. Which of the following CONFIG words would be the most appropriate? a) __FUSES _CP_OFF&_WDT_ON&_RC_OSC&_PWRTE_ON&_LVP_OFF&_BODEN_ON&_MCLRE_ON b) __FUSES _CP_OFF&_WDT_ON&_XT_OSC&_PWRTE_ON&_LVP_OFF&_BODEN_ON&_MCLRE_ON c) __FUSES _CP_OFF&_WDT_ON&_HS_OSC&_PWRTE_ON&_LVP_OFF&_BODEN_ON&_MCLRE_ON d) Do not know Question 2: The following code extract from a 16F628 program does not work as intended. ;PORTB Setup ;----- clrf STATUS,RP0 ;Set BANK 0 movlw B'11111111' movwf PORTB ;Set PORTB output latches to all 1's bsf STATUS,RP0 ;Set BANK 1 movwf TRISB ;Set PORT B to all outputs clrf STATUS,RP0 ;Set BANK 0 What would be the result? a) Sets all I/O pins of PORT B to output 1 b) Sets all I/O pins of PORT B to output 0 c) Sets all I/O pins of PORT B to input or tristate c) The state of PORTB cannot be determined Question 3: A 16F877 has a 10MHz crystal. What is the execution time for a single cycle instruction? a) 100nS b) 4uS c) 250nS d) 400nS e) None of the above The idea is not necessarily catch them out with trick questions but to test their basic knowledge of the parts and the sort of quirks or errors that can occur. It should also catch those whose CV is less than truthful and are desperate for a job! Most of us have to refer to the data sheets for setting up or using the more obscure peripherals so the questions need to be kept fairly basic to be useful. For obvious reasons please do not supply the answers with any of your questions. I will ask if I can't work them out for myself! Many thanks David -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.