How do you figure that knowing the execution path for a basic language feature is an "arcane fact behind the scene?" This is equivalent to not knowing how an if or for statement works. You can't write ANY code without this knowledge.
How were we able to understand try/catch while all we had known is return statements from functions and error checking through flags?
How were we able to understand if/else statements now, while all we were able to understand jmp and goto statements earlier.
How can people work with Microsoft excel without actually knowing they are into databases and functional programming?
First you learn how to use a logical block of programming, then you learn many other blocks. Then you learn how to use them together. Then many interacting blocks come as a pre packaged solution to a lot of problems. Assembling those blocks comes in the forms of of IDE's. That is how we have managed to move from bits, to assembly language programming, to languages lisp, C and till now where IDE's do most of what we do.
If you had asked anybody 50 years back if we could have come this far. Their answer would be no. Same as many people today can't believe that programming can be done without actually writing code syntactically.
You can do a lot of network programming today or IO programming today without knowing anything about OS or deeper networking aspects. You could not have told the same thing 15-20 years back. The average skill required to achieve these tasks is only decreasing.
On an average scale the skills, knowledge and work required to be a good programmer over 50 years has only decreased.
In the future, the solution to a problem doesn't necessarily has to be a code.
Haven't we seen Yahoo Pipes and things like that?
I can understand this attitude that most people are showing, because it effects their bread and butter. But this is the natural progression in any discipline.
I doesn't take an army of farmers and cows to do farming today. Farming is far more productive today than it was 100 years back.
The same case will be with software. Like it or not, it is going to happen.
