Programming can be so wildly varying that it's tough to find any common ground. Try getting a C programmer, a Lisp programmer and a Java programmer (heck throw in a Ruby and PHP too) to agree on common core knowledge. We can't even agree on Text editors!
There's no need to agree on text editors.
For any useful agreement and commonality to exist, it might have to be within a particular problem domain. Philip Greenspun's course for internet applications, for example, makes no demands on language, operating system, or text editor, but does require that a successful student can build a working software system of the type described in the curriculum.
Knowing a language without knowing how to build anything useful seems pointless, and I posit it would be, for all practical purposes, impossible to build a useful system without knowing "enough" about at least one language (and one text editor, and one operating system). The breadth and depth of "enough" varies from domain to domain, and is not consistent across all branches of software engineering.
There's no need to agree on text editors.
For any useful agreement and commonality to exist, it might have to be within a particular problem domain. Philip Greenspun's course for internet applications, for example, makes no demands on language, operating system, or text editor, but does require that a successful student can build a working software system of the type described in the curriculum.
Knowing a language without knowing how to build anything useful seems pointless, and I posit it would be, for all practical purposes, impossible to build a useful system without knowing "enough" about at least one language (and one text editor, and one operating system). The breadth and depth of "enough" varies from domain to domain, and is not consistent across all branches of software engineering.