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"Please never quiz folks about this in a job interview." I have seen these types of 'well if they get this it's a good sign' type of questions. I guess if you r

"Please never quiz folks about this in a job interview." I have seen these types of 'well if they get this it's a good sign' type of questions. I guess if you really want that you could ask "What is a little known feature in a language you know well?"

woutr_be 5y ago
A better question would be, especially for JavaScript; “what are the bad parts about JavaScript?”. A person with actual real life experience will at least be able to list a couple.
- wizzwizz4 5y ago
  I think a better question would be "what are the good parts about JavaScript". Everyone knows the bad parts (right?).
  - woutr_be 5y ago
    People know what they like about it (the good parts), it takes a more experienced person to be able to explain what they dont like.
    - rgoulter 5y ago
      As always, I think discussion really helps back it up. But I'd expect someone who has had experience with some language/library/framework will have run into problems with it, and so will be able to discuss some problem which hints at that experience.
    - wizzwizz4 5y ago
      For most things, yes. But this is JavaScript, the language where intransitive equality, implicit object-to-primitive casting and mutable global objects must be used in all slight-above-trivial code. Where `typeof` is useless and wrong, but nonetheless necessary; where there are seven different ways to parse a number, with six different semantics… there's a reason that “JavaScript: The Good Parts” is such a short book. https://blog.klipse.tech/assets/js_good_parts.jpg https://blog.klipse.tech/assets/js_good_parts.jpg Somebody who knows the good parts of JavaScript is a JavaScript expert. You want somebody who can write good JavaScript, and using the bad parts well has nothing on using the good parts adequately.
      - woutr_be 5y ago
        I disagree, knowing the good parts about JavaScript isn’t difficult. What’s more difficult is being able to explain the bad parts about your main language. And JavaScript has quite a few, if you’re not able to highlight those, I wouldn’t consider you an expert at all. By knowing all the bad parts, you’ll be able to write much better code, because you know what to look out for.
jaffathecake 5y ago
"Tell me about the weirdest bug you had to deal with" is a good way to cover this, and more. But really, you find out more about communication skills with this question than anything else.

woutr_be 5y ago

A better question would be, especially for JavaScript; “what are the bad parts about JavaScript?”. A person with actual real life experience will at least be able to list a couple.

wizzwizz4 5y ago
I think a better question would be "what are the good parts about JavaScript". Everyone knows the bad parts (right?).
- woutr_be 5y ago
  People know what they like about it (the good parts), it takes a more experienced person to be able to explain what they dont like.
  - rgoulter 5y ago
    As always, I think discussion really helps back it up. But I'd expect someone who has had experience with some language/library/framework will have run into problems with it, and so will be able to discuss some problem which hints at that experience.
  - wizzwizz4 5y ago
    For most things, yes. But this is JavaScript, the language where intransitive equality, implicit object-to-primitive casting and mutable global objects must be used in all slight-above-trivial code. Where `typeof` is useless and wrong, but nonetheless necessary; where there are seven different ways to parse a number, with six different semantics… there's a reason that “JavaScript: The Good Parts” is such a short book. https://blog.klipse.tech/assets/js_good_parts.jpg https://blog.klipse.tech/assets/js_good_parts.jpg Somebody who knows the good parts of JavaScript is a JavaScript expert. You want somebody who can write good JavaScript, and using the bad parts well has nothing on using the good parts adequately.
    - woutr_be 5y ago
      I disagree, knowing the good parts about JavaScript isn’t difficult. What’s more difficult is being able to explain the bad parts about your main language. And JavaScript has quite a few, if you’re not able to highlight those, I wouldn’t consider you an expert at all. By knowing all the bad parts, you’ll be able to write much better code, because you know what to look out for.

jaffathecake 5y ago

"Tell me about the weirdest bug you had to deal with" is a good way to cover this, and more. But really, you find out more about communication skills with this question than anything else.