There's a ton of stuff on similar level that does matter and it adds up.
Phenomena like knowing O(n) of basic algorithms and data structures. Understanding basic file formats and how they are implemented. Basic knowledge of network protocols and their building blocks. Basic knowledge of assembler. Understanding how IO happens and how your use case is bound (IO or CPU). Knowledge of character code pages, etc.
Nothing of the above is necessary to program in high level language. But if you want to do it well they can't possibly harm you. Or you will get involved with a vendor product that was written by someone who didn't know the above and you will be forced to reverse engineer the goddamn thing just to get your job done. :)
I totally agree where full-time development is concerned. And it's the sort of thing macro languages and so on tend to build in.
There are lot of people that might need to do a bit more programming - more elaborate than what a spreadsheet easily allows, but which doesn't justify becoming/hiring a pro. I was surprised to find last year that there are programming languages designed specifically for knitting, for example.
There's a ton of stuff on similar level that does matter and it adds up.
Phenomena like knowing O(n) of basic algorithms and data structures. Understanding basic file formats and how they are implemented. Basic knowledge of network protocols and their building blocks. Basic knowledge of assembler. Understanding how IO happens and how your use case is bound (IO or CPU). Knowledge of character code pages, etc.
Nothing of the above is necessary to program in high level language. But if you want to do it well they can't possibly harm you. Or you will get involved with a vendor product that was written by someone who didn't know the above and you will be forced to reverse engineer the goddamn thing just to get your job done. :)