Perl Interview Questions for Developers

Perl is a popular language for text processing, rapid prototyping, and ensuring cross-platform compatibility.

Larry Wall developed Perl as a general-purpose scripting language, with its first version released in 1987. It was initially designed for text manipulation and system administration tasks but has since evolved into a versatile language used in various domains.

https://www.perl.org/

To evaluate the skill level of developers in Perl during programming interviews, we provide a set of hands-on coding exercises and interview questions below.

Additionally, we have developed a range of suggested methods to ensure that your interview inquiries accurately measure the candidates’ Perl capabilities.

Perl example question

Help us design a parking lot app

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

Interview best practices for Perl roles

When conducting effective Perl interviews, it’s crucial to consider various factors, such as the applicants’ experience levels and the specific engineering role they’re seeking. To ensure your Perl interview questions yield the best results, we recommend adhering to these best practices while interacting with candidates:

• Develop technical questions that mirror real-life scenarios within your organization. This approach will not only engage the candidate but also enable you to more precisely evaluate their fit for your team.
• Encourage a cooperative atmosphere by allowing candidates to ask questions throughout the interview.
• If you’re using Perl for web development, also ensure candidates have an understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• You may also check if candidates have any interest on Raku, a “sister language” created by the Perl Foundation, which aims to improve the original design of the Perl language.

Moreover, it’s important to follow standard interview practices when executing Perl interviews. This includes adjusting question difficulty based on the applicant’s skill level, providing timely feedback on their application status, and enabling candidates to ask about the assessment or collaborate with you and your team.