4.20 Interview Questions

Frequently Asked Syntax Questions

• What is the difference between a keyword and an identifier?
• Why does Python use indentation instead of braces?
• What is the difference between a SyntaxError and a NameError?
• Can you reassign a value to a name written in UPPER_CASE? Why or why not?
• What does input() return, and why does that matter for arithmetic?
• What is the purpose of if __name__ == "__main__":?

Practical Coding Questions

• Write a function with a docstring and demonstrate retrieving it with help().
• Fix this snippet’s IndentationError:

  if True:
  print("hi")
  

• Show two different ways to continue a long expression across multiple lines.
• Given a list of numeric strings from input(), write code that sums them as integers.
• Identify and fix the missing colon in a given faulty function definition.

Quick Interview Answer

“The syntax topics that come up most in interviews are: why Python uses indentation instead of braces (it’s the block-delimiting syntax, not a style choice), the difference between a keyword and an identifier, why SyntaxError is caught before any code runs while NameError is a runtime error, why input() always returns a str, and what if __name__ == '__main__': actually does — letting a file work both as a script and as an importable module.”

Common Mistakes

• Answering “Python doesn’t have syntax errors, just runtime errors” — conflating the two error categories is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility on a syntax question.
• Not being able to explain why if __name__ == "__main__": matters, only that “you’re supposed to write it” — interviewers usually follow up asking what breaks without it.