I think assignments are a really good way to test people, but they really do have to be short. The second-last job I got took around 4 hours which I think is fine. Helps if the task is a bit fun too.
Also it shouldn't be the first stage of the interview process. That's just taking a piss. For this job it was after a phone interview, and with a scheduled face-to-face interview (where we discussed the code I'd written).
Also it shouldn't be the first stage of the interview process. That's just taking a piss. For this job it was after a phone interview, and with a scheduled face-to-face interview (where we discussed the code I'd written).