What minimum should a person know before saying "I know Python"

[rusi]

On Friday, September 20, 2013 7:09:13 PM UTC+5:30, Robert Kern wrote:
> On 2013-09-20 12:43, rusi wrote:
> > Stroustrup says he is still learning C++ and I know kids who have no qualms saying they know programming language L (for various values of L) after hardly an hour or two of mostly advertising and pep-talk exposure.
> 
> > So without knowing what you mean my 'knowing' I am not going to try answering q-1
> 
> 
> I think that's his actual question: "What do *you* mean by 'I know Python'?" 
> At what point in your Python career did you feel comfortable claiming that?

Hmm... Now you are putting me in a spot :-)
Too many aspects to this to give a reasonably short answer :-)
I'll try and collect my thoughts in due course...

What I meant to say to the OP:
Knowing a language can mean widely different things:
1. to crack interviews
2. as a junior programmer
3. as a tech-lead
4. for bug-fixing/maintaining others' code

A big difference between 1 and 2 is the value of obfuscated/ting code
For 1 knowing trick questions/answers is a big win; for 2 more likely a loss.
Also for 1 a big breath-first knowledge is required; for 2 its ok to know a subset well and be able to use it with good taste.

For 3 right emotions are more important than details -- to look at a significant piece of code and be accurate in exclaiming "Wonderful/Blechhh"

4 is really an important and much neglected mindset. Ive talked about it here

http://blog.languager.org/2010/02/service-and-product-mindsets.html

Ok... So trying to say (a little!) in answer to your (Robert's) question though tangentially.

Ive spent 20 years in a university.  Most of what goes on there may be called gaming.
- The best students are not the one's who know or love to know most but who successfully game the system
- The best teachers are not those who teach best but who are one-up on the students' gaming habits and tendencies
- The best administrators are those who are cleverest at using academic (sounding) jargon to make lucrative institutions

Sounds cynical?  Well most of the students are not the 'best students' above and so its more important to gauge where (s)he is coming from, where going etc and to answer appropriately rather than giving to-the-point answers when the student may be too bewildered to ask exact/precise questions.

Basically instruct him just enough on how to game the system so that he clears the course but not so much he loses his soul!