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How Much Python Do You Need To Know To Be Useful?
Nerval's Lobster writes: Since Python is a general-purpose language, it finds its way into a whole lot of different uses and industries. That means the industry in which you work has a way of determining what you actually need to know in terms of the language, as developer Jeff Cogswell explains in a new Dice piece. For example, if you're hired to write apps that interact with operating systems and monitor devices, you might not need to know how to use the Python modules for scientific and numerical programming. In a similar fashion, if you're hired to write Python code that interacts with a MySQL database, then you won't need to master how it works with CouchDB. The question is, how much do you need to know about Python's basics? Cogswell suggests there are three basic levels to learning Python: Learn the core language itself, such as the syntax and basic types (and the difference between Python 2 and Python 3); learn the commonly used modules, and familiarize yourself with other modules; learn the bigger picture of software development with Python, such as including Python in a build process, using the pip package manager, and so on. But is that enough?
The answer has to be 0 right?
I know C++. To me, anyone who knows python but not C++ is half useless. If you only know Java, you're 25% useless. And if you know only Visual Basic, you're 125% useless.
John
Holy Grail;
Dead Parrot;
Spam;
Ministry of Silly Walks;
and of course Spanish Inquisition.
So here's the link with the campaign tracking removed.
It looks like Dice is going to run a series of non-articles detailing what we should know, and have started to embed shit like "?CMPID=AF_SD_UP_JS_AV_OG_DNA_" this in their self-promoting URLs.
Click bait is click bait. Especially when done by sleazy assholes like Dice.
Fuck you, dicebags.
None, if you use Perl :)
I write code to monitor hardware devices, interact with SQL, and output to HTML pages. Perl does it all!
That said, I think learning the basics of any language is important no matter what type of software you will be coding.
Programming languages are like tools; use the best tool to get the job done.
Assembly is a wonderful language if you are writing low level system software; not too useful for SQL databases. C++ is great for system interaction and fast apps - but I probably wouldn't use it for front end UI. Javascript is great for web pages but not for device drivers.
Visual Basic is good for.. um.. nothing.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
How much of a summary do you need to read to know you should skip that one?
We've seen this same thing over and over with a different language. Does anyone care by now?
Next week:
How much Swift ... useful?
I'd say the Parrot Sketch, Argument Clinic, and Silly Walks. Maybe add in Bruces and Spanish Inquisition, although no one expects that last one.
Um, what? No, I didn't read the article before responding. Why do you ask?
It is difficult to identify how much of [anything] one needs to know without knowing what the [job] responsibilities are.
I use Python for day-to-day automation of things I'd rather not do by hand. I'm not master, and most of what I write looks like c++ (not very pythonesque) - so someone who is exceptionally proficient with Python would cringe at what I produce.
However, what Python I do know allows me to be more productive throughout my day.
Just spend time with the language trying to do things that [job] requires, and you will discover how much Python you need to know to do [job].
An internal system operation returned the error "The operation completed successfully.".
It always amazes me that so many folks reject something entirely because they don't like one aspect of it. Good luck finding a wife...
Comment: Ahh Dice (Score 4, Funny)
by Verloc on Thursday June 04, 2015 @10:08PM (#49844935) Attached to: How Much JavaScript Do You Need To Know For an Entry-Level Job?
Last week it was "How much C++ do you need to know for an entry level job"
next week it'll be "How much Python do you need for an entry level job"
Must be nice crowd sourcing your job requirements from Slashdot.
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It was even Python. Amazing. I predict next week: Ruby.
I mean seriously, you need to at least know the Holy Grail to say that you know Python...
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
Have you actually written code in Python and found the whitespace handling to be an issue? When I first heard about whitespace being significant I didn't like it, but I've never had a problem in practice.
My wife doesn't have a white space, she's asian.
I heard a similar rationale regarding a baby and its bathwater. At first, the bathwater was blamed for the unfortunate zealous disposal of the baby. But when that explanation didn't fly, the purported ugliness of the baby was offered as justification. However, after hearing both explanations, the jury remained unconvinced.
Tables use white space to convey structure. Do you think they are retarded?
Paragraphs usually have a first line with extra white space. Is this retarded?
Centering titles implies using lots of white space. Is this retarded?
Operas have white spaces between arias. Supposedly this is also retarded, isn't it?
> You have to know enough to know that it makes whitespace significant. That's useful, because it should lead you to choose another scripting language, one which is less retarded.
You used white spaces in your post. Why? Are they significant or is your post retarded?
[Meta: Can we filter out registered posts -- obviously without being registered?]
Please excuse this off-topic queue-jumping reply to your comment, but there are times when someone makes a very insightful observation that really, really should have gone in a more prominent position.
Sneak preview; three virtually identical questions of the form "How Much [language x] Should You Know For an Entry-Level [language x] Job?" going to the Dice website and "submitted" by the same Slashdot employee in just over two weeks.
Bonus; OP linked above correctly predicted this week's story and even got the language right.
That's almost funny, except that it isn't. Admittedly, Slashdot has been "going down the tubes" almost since it launched, but this is particularly crap.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I've written Python for years and have never used any special editor. The one problem I've had is when commenting out several lines of Python code -- you need to add a # character to the beginning of each line. It's a minor inconvenience.
What about using the """ triple-quote format? That works for multi-line comments, but may be "special" in that it's interpreted by other tools.
Would you rather I complain about the compatibility problems between minor versions? It's abysmal performance? Or do I need to expound on the original point and poke fun at how anonymous functions are crippled because of the absurd whitespace rules, point out how they often hurt readability, explain how they lead to bugs that are literally invisible, or about how they make refactoring code difficult?
The whitespace rules are reason enough to avoid learning it, just as it's serious compatibility issues are reason enough to avoid using it in any professional context. Why bother with further explanation? It's far more economical to move on to any one of countless alternatives far more suitable for any given application.
Required reading for internet skeptics