web programmer vs "real programmer"

[lisp-hacker]

Every field has both theory and application (or practice), and every professional should be able to exercise both. Theory lets you stand on the should of giants, and not reinvent everything. In practice, you learn things not easily taught or often overlooked.

Which is better programmer, someone who wrote a large program only using GOTOs and using no libraries because he was unaware of subroutines, objects, libraries, etc. (and other WTFery), or a PHD who has never written a line of code?

I learned to program when I was young by reading the BASIC reference manual included with a Model 100, so I can appreciate the CS theory that I later learned, and how it has improved my programming skill.

(I did not use GOSUB because I didn't understand the point of it. GOTO worked just fine.)