Starting the article with the history of “but you know what’s better?” just reinforces that there’s always a level where discipline is important. We will never

Starting the article with the history of “but you know what’s better?” just reinforces that there’s always a level where discipline is important. We will never reach the end of the “you know what’s better” cycle. So discipline itself, though not a particular discipline, is something a good programmer always needs. (Which is true of every other craft/skill as well.) For the record, I do tell people they should learn C so they have a better idea of how computers work. That emphatically does not mean I want them to start writing actual production code in C, unless there’s an extremely good reason (and that hasn’t happened for me in a decade or two). Advising people to gain a deeper understanding of their tools is not “hazing”.