The question must have been typoed. Given that list, I think the question was supposed to be, "What skills do novice programmers commonly lack?" Anyway, I kno

The question must have been typoed. Given that list, I think the question was supposed to be, "What skills do novice programmers commonly lack?" Anyway, I know first hand (from interviewing quite a number of people) that a lot of university graduates lack the listed skills. Sure, they might be familiar with the term "compiler," but that doesn't mean that they have the skills to actually write one. Don't get me wrong -- for some people, a university education is perfect. There are plenty of grads that know what the hell they're doing. But getting a degree is far from the only way to learn what you need to know to be a decent programmer, and it certainly doesn't guarantee that you'll be one.