Comment by jart

> I noticed from teaching computer science while a graduate student is that the poor (a) students think about languages and libraries as key skills, while the (b) better students think about the data structures, algorithms, and design principles.

The truth is that the programmers in group (b) think about both. Who's designing a lot of the new languages, libraries, and frameworks? Chances are it was someone from group (a). If you're in group (b) then do you want to spend your whole career being forced by your bosses to constantly relearn and follow the latest vogue vision from group (a)? Of course not. So this might not apply to students, but everyone from group (b) will eventually get burned by fads enough times that they start caring about the politics of software. Namely, not wanting to depend on bloat that doesn't actually solve computer science and systems engineering problems. Group (b) might even create alternatives themselves. Go is great example. The guys who built the Fifth Bell System watched their vision behind their techniques decline over the decades and said, enough is enough. So they made Go and it was like a ray of sunshine when it came out.