I never said you shouldn't have a work-sample test. But I doubt everybody who can code is an equally good hire for every company.

As for work sample tests, there are also those who criticize programming tests because they say people might just be bothered by the interview situation and in reality be much better programmers. If you let the candidate do it at home, they can fake it by letting somebody else do the coding.

I personally would certainly want to see some demonstration of programming skill.