They're using simple base64 encoding (the same encoding
viewstate uses). The decoded email address is
challenge@dotspots.com.
I presume you are kidding about who to send the answers
to... but on another topic, in high school (way back in
1980!) I wrote exactly that first program, excepting
that I output the "smallest-squarest" puzzle which would
fit the word-set. Wow what a pleasant set of flashbacks.
psssst, I know the address.
Correction: That challenge is how to get 'clever'
developers. Good is a-whole-nother thing.
You use unit testing to prevent problems and that makes
you a "Good" developer.
That contest is looking for problem solvers. These
people tend to be helpful in a crisis, but generally
create more problems than they solve in the long run.
We were all problem solvers at some point in our life,
but the "Good" programmers matured into problem
preventers :)
Mail it here:
string email =
Encoding.ASCII.GetString(Convert.FromBase64String("Y2hhbGxlbmdlQGRvdHNwb3RzLmNvbQo="));
Hm, the mail looks like:
challenge@dotspots.com
:)
Glad to see that our challenges have piqued some
interest. :)
The challenge is only the first part of the interview.
We're also looking for developers that:
- can solve problems at least at the level of the
challenges
- write testable, modular code (and tests!)
- can work from distributed locations
Even though we're a startup, we still have a CI system
running 24/7 with automated testing. This covers a wide
swath of code from the backend to the frontend.
Once we've opened up our product to the world, I'll blog
about how we rely on testing and automation for our
distributed company to function.
If you're looking for coding challenges and fancy the
interaction, topcoder.com used to be quite good fun.
You can take part in real challenges, or practise test
and have your code analysed and scored by your peers -
it's a great way for the more Isolated developer to
interract.
They also offer work too; if you're a rated 'topcoder'
you can offer to work on development projects that come
up, (in a variety of languages) for actual Money.
Or at least, that's how it used to be - my only problem
was getting online in my Timezone :)