3 ms·

Eww, that's a nasty bug, though Python certainly isn't the first language to have it. IIRC, Dylan's "init-value" for class slots did much the same thing. But r

by ekidd 15y ago

Eww, that's a nasty bug, though Python certainly isn't the first language to have it. IIRC, Dylan's "init-value" for class slots did much the same thing. But really, this question only tells you whether a candidate is lying about Python experience on their résumé. If the candidate answers, "I have no idea. But I have 5 years of Ruby experience, and many years of Perl before that, and I can be competent in Python within a month or so," this question tells you nothing either way. I've always been delighted to hire a really good programmer. I'm usually not too picky about which languages they're really good at.

moonchrome 15y ago
Well technically it's not a bug - it's by design :) But I agree completely, which is why I said you should be able to evaluate the previous work trough the interview, even if you don't know the specific technology (eg. If I was interviewing someone for a Django/Python gig and he has RoR experience ~10-15 minutes of interviewing about a previous project that he thinks is representative would be enough to figure out if he's winging it or he knows what he's talking about, it's cool if someone misses something but he should be able to reason about things on the fly, eg. in the above gotcha I expect you to figure out what's happening when I tell you the result if you didn't get it right away). I'm just saying - some details can be useful, eg. if I knew Ruby or Rails I could ask about a few similar details that separate the men from the boys - but asking what namespace is foo located in isn't going to provide useful information and puts you in the PHB class of people who don't realize that their lack of skill is preventing them from creating good evaluation tools and can't delegate the responsibility to someone skilled - the kind of environment I would want avoid at all costs.

by ekidd 15y ago

moonchrome 15y ago

Well technically it's not a bug - it's by design :) But I agree completely, which is why I said you should be able to evaluate the previous work trough the interview, even if you don't know the specific technology (eg. If I was interviewing someone for a Django/Python gig and he has RoR experience ~10-15 minutes of interviewing about a previous project that he thinks is representative would be enough to figure out if he's winging it or he knows what he's talking about, it's cool if someone misses something but he should be able to reason about things on the fly, eg. in the above gotcha I expect you to figure out what's happening when I tell you the result if you didn't get it right away). I'm just saying - some details can be useful, eg. if I knew Ruby or Rails I could ask about a few similar details that separate the men from the boys - but asking what namespace is foo located in isn't going to provide useful information and puts you in the PHB class of people who don't realize that their lack of skill is preventing them from creating good evaluation tools and can't delegate the responsibility to someone skilled - the kind of environment I would want avoid at all costs.