Objective-C Interview Questions for Developers

Despite the rise of Swift as the preferred language for macOS/iOS applications, Objective-C still remains popular due to its interoperability with C and C++, its dynamic runtime, and the mature ecosystem.

Objective-C is the language behind the Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, which are the primary frameworks for building macOS and iOS applications, respectively. These frameworks provide a rich set of APIs that enable developers to create complex applications with ease.

Apple’s Developer Documentation

Our group has designed functional programming tasks and discussion inquiries, customized to gauge the Objective-C abilities of developers throughout coding evaluations. Moreover, we have gathered a collection of optimal techniques to guarantee the precision of your interview questions in assessing candidates’ expertise in Objective-C.

Objective-C example question

Help us design a parking lot

Hey candidate! Welcome to your interview. Boilerplate is provided. Feel free to change the code as you see fit. To run the code at any time, please hit the run button located in the top left corner.

Goals: Design a parking lot using object-oriented principles

Here are a few methods that you should be able to run:

• Tell us how many spots are remaining
• Tell us how many total spots are in the parking lot
• Tell us when the parking lot is full
• Tell us when the parking lot is empty
• Tell us when certain spots are full e.g. when all motorcycle spots are taken
• Tell us how many spots vans are taking up

Assumptions:

• The parking lot can hold motorcycles, cars and vans
• The parking lot has motorcycle spots, car spots and large spots
• A motorcycle can park in any spot
• A car can park in a single compact spot, or a regular spot
• A van can park, but it will take up 3 regular spots
• These are just a few assumptions. Feel free to ask your interviewer about more assumptions as needed

Best interview practices for Objective-C roles

To ensure successful Objective-C interviews, it is crucial to take into account various aspects, such as the applicant’s background and the specific engineering position. To foster a positive interview experience, we suggest implementing the following best practices:

• Develop technical questions that are based on real-world business situations within your organization. This strategy will effectively engage the applicant and assist in evaluating their fit with your team.
• Establish a cooperative atmosphere by encouraging candidates to ask questions throughout the interview.
• Candidates should have an understanding of Auto Layout and constraints for building responsive apps.

Moreover, adhering to standard interview practices is essential when conducting Objective-C interviews. This includes tailoring the question difficulty to suit the applicant’s capabilities, offering timely updates regarding their application status, and allowing them to inquire about the assessment process and cooperation with you and your team.