when do you say you 'know' a programming language?
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I asked a question last week about when people thought it was time to start learning new language. Now I'd like to hear some opinions on when you can say you 'know' a language? I'm not saying when you feel you can fool management, which I've heard as a response to this type of question a number of times. If I can make DirectX applications, can I say I 'know' C++? If I can make GUI-based database-driven applications using ADO, but I don't know anything at all about using sockets, can I say I 'know' C++? If you were going to hire somebody for your company and had a candidate that could make database apps (the only thing your company really makes), but didn't really know anything about writing ISAPI extensions, or some other part of programming that didn't specifically relate to the job he or she had to do, would that positively exclude the candidate from the prospective job applicants? Do written questions and tests count more than performance? Would you just go off of a written test? For instance, in grade school, (a supposedly 'gifted' school), I used to get in trouble in math class because I didn't show my work when doing multiplication problems that resulted in a 4 or 5-digit number. I knew how to do it in my head, (usually faster than the other kids on paper) and my answers were right more than 99% of the time, but I couldn't understand how to write the answers out like everybody else. So would you discount a programmer's knowledge because they didn't know what the C++ Standard says about assigning and modifying the same variable between sequence points, even if they could create good code blindingly fast? If I write code in my sleep, does that make me brilliant, or just a lazy programmer? My articles www.stillwaterexpress.com BlackDice - the programmer formerly known as bdiamond
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I now pronounce you, Man, and Compiler. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?
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Me too. :) Ed Atwell