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Re: Python Interview Questions

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On Tuesday, 30 October 2007 21:24:04 UTC+2, Tim Chase  wrote:
> > I have used Python for a couple of projects last year and
>  > I found it extremely useful. I could write two middle size
>  > projects in 2-3 months (part time). Right now I am a bit
>  > rusty and trying to catch up again with Python.
>  >
>  > I am now appearing for Job Interviews these days and I am
>  > wondering if anybody of you appeared for a Python
>  > Interview. Can you please share the questions you were
>  > asked. That will be great help to me.
> 
> While I haven't interviewed precisely for Python, I've been
> on the other (interviewing) end and can offer a few of the
> sorts of things I ask.  I don't expect perfect answers to
> all of them, but they show me a range of what the
> interviewee knows.  I try and give a scattershot of
> questions from the following areas to try and narrow down
> where they fall in terms of pythonability, and then grill
> more deeply around the edges that I find.
> 
> Basic Python:
> =============
> - do they know a tuple/list/dict when they see it?
> 
> - when to use list vs. tuple vs. dict. vs. set
> 
> - can they use list comprehensions (and know when not to
>    abuse them? :)
> 
> - can they use tuple unpacking for assignment?
> 
> - string building...do they use "+=" or do they build a list
>    and use .join() to recombine them efficiently
> 
> - truth-value testing questions and observations (do they
>    write "if x == True" or do they just write "if x")
> 
> - basic file-processing (iterating over a file's lines)
> 
> - basic understanding of exception handling
> 
> Broader Basic Python:
> =====================
> - questions about the standard library ("do you know if
>    there's a standard library for doing X?", or "in which
>    library would you find [common functionality Y]?")  Most
>    of these are related to the more common libraries such as
>    os/os.path/sys/re/itertools
> 
> - questions about iterators/generators
> 
> - questions about map/reduce/sum/etc family of functions
> 
> - questions about "special" methods (__<foo>__)
> 
> More Advanced Python:
> =====================
> - can they manipulate functions as first-class objects
>    (Python makes it easy, but do they know how)
> 
> - more detailed questions about the std. libraries (such as
>    datetime/email/csv/zipfile/networking/optparse/unittest)
> 
> - questions about testing (unittests/doctests)
> 
> - questions about docstrings vs. comments, and the "Why" of
>    them
> 
> - more detailed questions about regular expressions
> 
> - questions about mutability
> 
> - keyword/list parameters and unpacked kwd args
> 
> - questions about popular 3rd-party toolkits (BeautifulSoup,
>    pyparsing...mostly if they know about them and when to use
>    them, not so much about implementation details)
> 
> - questions about monkey-patching
> 
> - questions about PDB
> 
> - questions about properties vs. getters/setters
> 
> - questions about classmethods
> 
> - questions about scope/name-resolution
> 
> - use of lambda
> 
> Python History:
> ===============
> - decorators added in which version?
> 
> - "batteries included" SQL-capible DB in which version?
> 
> - the difference between "class Foo" and "class Foo(object)"
> 
> - questions from "import this" about pythonic code
> 
> Python Resources:
> =================
> - what do they know about various Python web frameworks
>    (knowing a few names is usually good enough, though
>    knowledge about the frameworks is a nice plus) such as
>    Django, TurboGears, Zope, etc.
> 
> - what do they know about various Python GUI frameworks and
>    the pros/cons of them (tkinter, wx, pykde, etc)
> 
> - where do they go with Python related questions (c.l.p,
>    google, google-groups, etc)
> 
> Other Process-releated things:
> ==============================
> - do they use revision control
>    (RCS/CVS/Subversion/Mercurial/Git...anything but VSS) and
>    know how to use it well
> 
> - do they write automated tests for their code
> 
> Touchy-feely things:
> ====================
> - tabs vs. spaces, and their reasoning
> 
> - reason for choosing Python
> 
> - choice of editor/IDE
> 
> Good luck with your interviewing and hope this helped,
> 
> -tkc

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Re: Python Interview Questions yeryomin.igor@gmail.com - 2012-07-08 23:39 -0700
  Re: Python Interview Questions Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2012-07-09 06:07 -0500
  Re: Python Interview Questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-07-09 09:25 -0400
    Re: Python Interview Questions Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2012-07-09 12:40 -0500
      Re: Python Interview Questions Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 11:44 -0700
        Re: Python Interview Questions Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2012-07-10 09:05 +1000
      Re: Python Interview Questions Demian Brecht <demianbrecht@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 13:11 -0700
        Re: Python Interview Questions Peter <peter.milliken@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 14:22 -0700
          Re: Python Interview Questions Devin Jeanpierre <jeanpierreda@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 18:53 -0400
          Re: Python Interview Questions Christian Heimes <lists@cheimes.de> - 2012-07-10 01:33 +0200
            Re: Python Interview Questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-07-09 19:40 -0400
              Re: Python Interview Questions Christian Heimes <lists@cheimes.de> - 2012-07-10 02:02 +0200
              Re: Python Interview Questions rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 23:29 -0700
            Re: Python Interview Questions Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-07-10 07:33 +0000
              Re: Python Interview Questions Christian Heimes <lists@cheimes.de> - 2012-07-10 10:11 +0200
                Re: Python Interview Questions Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-07-10 16:51 +0000
                Re: Python Interview Questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-07-11 02:59 +1000
                Re: Python Interview Questions Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-07-10 17:41 +0000
              Re: Python Interview Questions Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-10 10:45 +0100
              Re: Python Interview Questions rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2012-07-10 08:01 -0700
              Re: Python Interview Questions Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2012-07-10 13:12 -0400
              Re: Python Interview Questions Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-10 18:50 +0100
                Re: Python Interview Questions Demian Brecht <demianbrecht@gmail.com> - 2012-07-10 11:08 -0700
                Re: Python Interview Questions Robert Miles <robertmiles@teranews.com> - 2012-08-15 01:19 -0500
          Re: Python Interview Questions Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2012-07-09 18:37 -0500
          Re: Python Interview Questions Emile van Sebille <emile@fenx.com> - 2012-07-09 16:56 -0700
          Re: Python Interview Questions Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-10 02:23 +0100
          RE: Python Interview Questions Shambhu Rajak <Shambhu.Rajak@kpitcummins.com> - 2012-07-10 05:08 +0000
          Re: Python Interview Questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-07-10 18:03 +1000
          Re: Python Interview Questions Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-10 10:42 +0100
          Re: Python Interview Questions "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-07-10 16:55 +0100
            Re: Python Interview Questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-07-11 02:05 +1000
          Re: Python Interview Questions Stefan Behnel <stefan_ml@behnel.de> - 2012-07-11 06:05 +0200
        Re: Python Interview Questions Peter <peter.milliken@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 14:22 -0700
          Re: Python Interview Questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-07-09 19:08 -0400
      Re: Python Interview Questions Demian Brecht <demianbrecht@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 13:11 -0700

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