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One of my colleagues was taking an interview of a potential candidate who listed "Python" as a core programming language. This is similar to most interviews I'v

One of my colleagues was taking an interview of a potential candidate who listed "Python" as a core programming language. This is similar to most interviews I've been part of. Here's how it went - Interviewer : Name some data structures in Python Interviewee : Same as C, C++ Interviewer : Can you name some specific data structures? For example, have you heard about lists? Interviewee : I haven't heard about lists in Python Interviewer : What is the key difference between Python and C? Interviewee : Python requires indentation, C doesn't. That was the final straw in my colleague's patience.

enry_straker 13y ago
Why would your colleague waste time on further questions when the interviewee answered that he hasn't heard of lists in python? btw Python's indentation requirement is a difference with C though whether it's a key difference or not is debatable.
- jeffasinger 13y ago
  Given all of the differences between Python and C, I don't think it's even debatable whether or not the indentation rules in Python are the key difference. I'd say that typing and interpreted vs compiled are both so much more important.
  - enry_straker 13y ago
    I would have gone with object orientation myself, and a de jure standard library ( but then i am an old bloke from the days before C had a std lib :-) But i have to admit that most python programs are a joy to read ( thanks to guido's insistence on indentation as part of the specs ) whereas most real-world C code is just horrible ( even code i had written a few years back )
kamaal 13y ago
I once had a experience with a colleague. She would continually come to me to parse XMLs and give it to her in some format like a csv which she could open it in Microsoft excel for some report generation purposes. It started to happen pretty frequently and would consume a great deal of my time- It was reaching a stage where I had to stop my work to do her's. After a time she would just show up at my desk with her laptop, I had to write the code while she chatted with some one on her mobile. One afternoon I had, had enough and I asked her why she couldn't do it herself. She then mentioned she only knew C and C++. Then I asked why couldn't she parse the XMLs in C or C++? After a few questions back and forth, she understood I wasn't going to her homework after all. She shed enough tears to convince our project manager, that I wasn't a good team player and I was the reason why the productivity in the project was falling down. Thankfully one afternoon our clients had her removed from the project when I was on leave, and they made her write programs in a war room while the whole team was watching her screen on a projector.
- thewarrior 13y ago
  That seems like a pretty brutal way to treat someone. Not that I'm excusing their behaviour.

enry_straker 13y ago

Why would your colleague waste time on further questions when the interviewee answered that he hasn't heard of lists in python? btw Python's indentation requirement is a difference with C though whether it's a key difference or not is debatable.

jeffasinger 13y ago
Given all of the differences between Python and C, I don't think it's even debatable whether or not the indentation rules in Python are the key difference. I'd say that typing and interpreted vs compiled are both so much more important.
- enry_straker 13y ago
  I would have gone with object orientation myself, and a de jure standard library ( but then i am an old bloke from the days before C had a std lib :-) But i have to admit that most python programs are a joy to read ( thanks to guido's insistence on indentation as part of the specs ) whereas most real-world C code is just horrible ( even code i had written a few years back )

kamaal 13y ago

I once had a experience with a colleague. She would continually come to me to parse XMLs and give it to her in some format like a csv which she could open it in Microsoft excel for some report generation purposes. It started to happen pretty frequently and would consume a great deal of my time- It was reaching a stage where I had to stop my work to do her's. After a time she would just show up at my desk with her laptop, I had to write the code while she chatted with some one on her mobile. One afternoon I had, had enough and I asked her why she couldn't do it herself. She then mentioned she only knew C and C++. Then I asked why couldn't she parse the XMLs in C or C++? After a few questions back and forth, she understood I wasn't going to her homework after all. She shed enough tears to convince our project manager, that I wasn't a good team player and I was the reason why the productivity in the project was falling down. Thankfully one afternoon our clients had her removed from the project when I was on leave, and they made her write programs in a war room while the whole team was watching her screen on a projector.

thewarrior 13y ago
That seems like a pretty brutal way to treat someone. Not that I'm excusing their behaviour.