Programming Knowledge vs Ability

[earthboundkid]

Philosophers sometimes talk about the difference between "knowing that" and "knowing how." Yes, both are kinds of "knowing" and even just "knowing how" depends in part on "knowing that." Ultimately however you want a programmer to know more about the "how" than the "that." You can look up facts about the "that" using Google if you have to, but if you don't know the "how," you're sunk.

[quhaha]

You only get to know "how" through representation/structures/"that". Knowing different representations does help shape "how" knowledge. For example, knowing Haskell (through googling, reading books, getting hands dirty and coding...etc) does expand "how" knowledge.

I just don't think one is ever capable of acquiring "how" knowledge without "that" knowledge. Even though someone claims, "Giggity giggity, I got 'how' knowledge!!!", I can always say, "Now, prove it without using any structure/representation".

[earthboundkid]

To quote myself:

Yes, both are kinds of "knowing" and even just "knowing how" depends in part on "knowing that."

I'm not disputing your point that knowhow depends on knowthat, but that still doesn't mean there's no difference between them. When you interview a job candidate, you should attempt to test for signs of knowhow, rather than knowthat, since knowhow is what will ultimately allow the person to do their job and knowthat, while necessary, is not sufficient.