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2023-10-17    Share on: Twitter | Facebook | HackerNews | Reddit

Python Expertise Level - Self-Assessment

Sometimes you need to assess your own or candidate's level of
expertise in Python programming. I have created some statements that
roughly corresponds to the various level of expertise. Note that
knowing programming language techniques contributes to expertise but
does not make a great programmer automatically. Knowledge of
algorithms and data structures, programming patterns, and software
architectures are some other important factors - just to mention a
few.

Having that said I still find useful this simple classification of
Python programmers into three categories: beginners, advanced, and
experts.

Beginners

 1. Familiar with basic Python syntax and data types (strings,
    integers, lists, dictionaries).
 2. Can write simple functions and use control flow statements (if,
    for, while).
 3. Understands the concept of variables and variable scope.
 4. Can use basic Python libraries like math and random.
 5. Knows how to handle errors and exceptions using try/except
    blocks.
 6. Can read from and write to files.
 7. Understands the basics of object-oriented programming: classes,
    objects, methods.
 8. Can use basic string and list methods for manipulation.
 9. Knows how to use basic Python data structures like lists, tuples,
    and dictionaries.
10. Can write simple Python scripts to automate tasks.

Advanced

 1. Can use advanced Python libraries like numpy, pandas, matplotlib.
 2. Understands and uses generators and decorators.
 3. Can write complex functions and classes with multiple methods and
    attributes.
 4. Understands and uses list comprehensions and lambda functions.
 5. Can use regular expressions for pattern matching in strings.
 6. Understands and uses context managers for resource management.
 7. Can use advanced Python data structures like sets and frozensets.
 8. Understands and uses Python's memory management and optimization
    techniques.
 9. Can use Python's built-in functions like map(), filter(), reduce
    ().
10. Understands and uses Python's module and package system.

Experts

 1. Understands and uses metaclasses and descriptors.
 2. Can write and understand asynchronous code using asyncio.
 3. Understands and uses Python's concurrency and parallelism
    features.
 4. Can use Python's C API to extend Python with C/C++ code.
 5. Understands and uses Python's dynamic typing system to its full
    extent.
 6. Can write and understand complex decorators and context managers.
 7. Understands and uses Python's garbage collection system.
 8. Proficient in Python's debugging and profiling, using tools like
    pdb for debugging and cProfile for profiling to optimize their
    code.
 9. Have a deep understanding of Python's Global Interpreter Lock
    (GIL) and how it affects multithreaded programs.
10. Have a good understanding of Python's internals, such as
    bytecode, the Python interpreter's execution model, and how
    Python's data types are implemented at the C level.



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