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

CM cmpython at gmail.com
Mon Sep 23 22:34:26 EDT 2013


On Friday, September 20, 2013 5:58:00 AM UTC-4, Aseem Bansal wrote:
> I started Python 4 months ago. Largely self-study with use of Python 
> documentation, stackoverflow and google. I was thinking what is the minimum 
> that I must know before I can say that I know Python?

Seems to me a fuzzy boundary between "Not knowing" and "knowing".  I prefer thinking in terms of a spectrum, from 0-10 or pick your scale.

0 - Person who has never heard of Python or has but that's the extent of it.
1 - Beginning installer / Hello Worlder! / clumsy dabbler / what is self?
2 - Underway in earnest, not yet making anything all that much
3 - Making stuff, but clunky
4 - Making stuff pretty well, but looking up 2/3rds of it on SE or equivalent.
5 - Making stuff pretty well, but looking up 1/3rds of it on SE or equivalent.
6 - Making stuff pretty well, occasionally consulting the Python.org docs
7 - Tim Chase's list level
8 - The guy who hired the guy at 7 (assuming he is even further on)
9 - Gurus of this list
10 - Uber-gurus 
10^6 - Guido

I feel like I'm about 5 maybe, with some embarrassing chinks in the armor?  Draw the "know line" boundary wherever you want, but I'd think you'd probably want to be above 4.  I know I'd feel more comfortable saying I know Python if I were at 7 (and thanks, Tim Chase; I saved that list a while back in my files to consult someday, maybe).  That said, I've written 20k+ loc of (mostly?) working code in Python and have done some contracting work at my humble 5, so there's that.






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