[Tutor] Brainbench Python 1.5 Certification

[Raymond Hettinger]

> I've heard of certification tests for Java and C, but not for Python.
> Being relatively new to the language (and to programming), it's not
> something I'm considering anytime soon.  But I'm curious: what kind of
> skills are assessed in such a test?  What sorts of things are considered
> valuable to test-creators?  (Python, Java, whatever.)

The test creators value:
-- complete knowledge of the tutorial, all basic objects, methods,
operators, etc
-- some knowledge of the most commonly used modules in the library
-- a few standard idioms and the most common pitfalls

Employers would value, but testers have a hard time testing:
-- ability to write a program to solve a problem
-- ability to find an error in a program with a bug

> Btw, I ask this in all sincerity and am temporarily suspending my
> distrust of standardized tests -- I'm not trying to play devil's
> advocate or anything.

In this case, you should not suspend your distrust.  The author of the
test thinks it is seriously flawed because of Brainbench's test constraints:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&th=fd6cd5dc680aceab&rnum=1


Raymond Hettinger