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Benno wrote:
As long as we are sharing stories, I recently interviewed and hired two
programmers that will in part be working on Lua code, and it didn't
really matter that they didn't currently know Lua. What mattered was
they demonstrated that they would be able to learn Lua when required
to use it. It's hard enough to find smart programmers these days, I'm
not going to be too picky about specific languages they know.

I agree, after all, base Lua syntax is so simple, it takes no time to learn it.
It takes some time to master proper use of Lua, though... ;-)

Spending energy to cheat on such certificate would be stupid, as this energy could be spent on learning Lua.

Note, I understand employers looking at certifs, it can help eliminate candidates quickly. After all, this method isn't as bad as graphology or astrology...

I have heard of candidates stating they know C++, yet that are unable to produce a simple Hello World! program... "It's so much time since I last programmed in C++'...

I fully agree with Lucas, such exam should be broken down in several parts: in game industry, employers often look for scripters, who don't need to know anything about C API. In embedding industry, they would look more on the C side. Etc.

All in all, I would make myself some simple exercices to test the skills of a wanabee employee, instead of looking at some diploma.

Such certif. may be more valuable for Java (where the field of needed knowledge is currently much wider) than for Lua.

And Lua is a moving target: somebody with experience in coding C extensions for Lua 4 would take some time to program for Lua 5.

It is some time I play for Lua (some years), even using it a bit professionnaly, both on Lua and on C side. I am not an expert, and played very little with metatables... I wonder which score I should get at such exam...

--
Philippe Lhoste
--  (near) Paris -- France
--  http://Phi.Lho.free.fr
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