"if someone asked me to write something in any 6 of them I would have to look up some of the syntax to know if it needs a parenthesis or semi-colon. Is that considered not knowing it?"
I feel that that is a downfall of being a polyglot. I have no qualms about keeping documentation at the ready. Especially for myself, as I regularly switch between javascript(5 and 6, and various frameworks),xml,html,python,bash,c in my day to day. I feel its much more important to have general knowledge/skills than specific details. The fact that I have to look it up to know if I need to use .toUpperCase() on a string, or just .toUpper(), or if it is an instance method, or a global function, should be of no consequence. If I am regularly having to look up how to USE 'if' statements (as opposed to just syntax: [does this language use && or 'and]) that should be concerning.
I think a better test would be "Here's a method from our codebase, but I broke it. How do I fix it" Just be sure to break the logic of the code, instead of the syntax.
I may or may not find the syntax error, but I damn better be able to identify a non terminating while loop.
I feel that that is a downfall of being a polyglot. I have no qualms about keeping documentation at the ready. Especially for myself, as I regularly switch between javascript(5 and 6, and various frameworks),xml,html,python,bash,c in my day to day. I feel its much more important to have general knowledge/skills than specific details. The fact that I have to look it up to know if I need to use .toUpperCase() on a string, or just .toUpper(), or if it is an instance method, or a global function, should be of no consequence. If I am regularly having to look up how to USE 'if' statements (as opposed to just syntax: [does this language use && or 'and]) that should be concerning. I think a better test would be "Here's a method from our codebase, but I broke it. How do I fix it" Just be sure to break the logic of the code, instead of the syntax. I may or may not find the syntax error, but I damn better be able to identify a non terminating while loop.