[covati]

I don't think that is necessarily true. Most modern programming languages, as well as the relative cheap nature of RAM, have rendered a true understanding of the inner workings of RAM less important.

Would they be better at their job if they did? Probably. But do they have to? I'm not so sure anymore.

[ajross]

Sure, but we're not talking about the "narrow, career day-job programmers" here. We're talking about the "wear multiple hats and diagnose problems wherever they lie" set. Those people shouldn't be diagnosing problems with their own ignorance. At the very least they should understand what they don't know.

[krobertson]

Agreed. It can sometimes be a side effect of small companies, or young developers living the startup lifestyle. Not saying its bad or the root of the problem, just an observation.

More so, I think it comes more with modern languages that don't force you to manage memory anymore. When you don't need to alloc/free everything you're using, it is easy to get lazy. Factor in never generation who've never worked outside a managed memory language. There are minute details about retaining references, having multiple copies of the same data, or other leaks (file descriptors?).