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Re: Python Interview Questions

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On 07/09/12 08:25, Roy Smith wrote:
>> On Tuesday, 30 October 2007 21:24:04 UTC+2, Tim Chase  wrote:
> 
>>> - more detailed questions about the std. libraries (such as
>>>    datetime/email/csv/zipfile/networking/optparse/unittest)
> 
> You need to be careful when you ask questions like this.  I would expect 
> somebody to be aware of those and have a high-level understanding of 
> what they do, but certainly not remember the details of the exact syntax 
> and argument order.  Even with stuff I use everyday (like unittest and 
> datetime), I have a browser open to the reference manual most of the 
> time.

Yeah, the aim isn't to grill them on the minutia, but to get a
feeling that they know the basics.  The zipfile module offers a
ZipFile object for reading/writing zip files with or without
compression.  The CSV file allows for reading/writing CSV files with
definable delimiters and quoting/escaping.  Etc.


>>> - questions about PDB
> 
> Heh.  I would answer that with, "Python Debugger?  I've never used it".

The ability to know off the top of your head that it's the "Python
Debugger" is more than enough :-)  That's just first-order
ignorance:  you know what you don't know and can spend a few minutes
reading up on it if you need it.  The second[or higher]-order
ignorance of not knowing what pdb is (or, if you need more powerful
debugging, how to do it) is sign the person hasn't been programming
in Python much.

>>> 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
> 
> With the exception of the question about new-style classes, these are 
> silly questions.  I was around when both decorators and sqlite3 were 
> added.  I couldn't possible tell you when to any precision better than 
> "2 dot something". 

I'd even be satisfied if a person just knew that such features
weren't there all along and might need to be worked around for older
deployments.

> As for the zen of python, it's cute, and a piece of python
> folklore, but hardly an essential part of being a good python p

[Ed: something appears to have gotten truncated there]  Yeah, it's
more about a person being sufficiently steeped in python to know
bits and pieces of the zen, and their ability to recognize/create
pythonic code.  I've seen enough Java-written-in-Python to know what
I don't want :-)

-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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