Make them write (Score 1)

I make them write a paragraph in English.

Programming involves a lot of things, but ultimately it requires writing. If the programmer can't write well in a language they've used all their life, what does that say? Do they ignore punctuation, grammar, and spelling? What does it mean if they can't be bothered with details?

Even better would be to have them write a poem in iambic pentameter, explaining to them what that is if necessary. Languages already impose a certain discipline, but how does the programmer react to extra disciplines? Does she only want to write in free verse? Ever tried to read an undisciplined programmer's spaghetti code?

To be fair, this works against those whose native language isn't English, but that's the language I communicate in. For such people, a similar test might be to give them a syntax diagram of a computer language they don't know and ask them to write something in it.

These days, dragging a control onto a form and hooking up the events is considered programming. Re-usable objects are Good Things, but it feels more and more like connect-the-dots rather than programming. I'm more interested in the person who wrote the control than in the person who can drag it around.

The other test I give programmers is to have them copy a sheet of paper with sixteen rows of random sixteen-bit binary numbers. At least you find out the ones who pay attention to detail and check their work, both of which are important for programmers.