The vast majority of people don't need to care--nor should they. For most programming, the intricacies of the ASCII character set is completely irrelevant for pretty much all computer work done today.
However, a small percentage of people will care, and it is that small group which will carry on this knowledge. Bemoaning that the "youngsters" don't bother is like complaining that most people don't bother learning Old English--there are some people who do learn it, presumably because they find it interesting, and those are the people that everyone else relies on for their occasional Old-English-reading needs.
However, a small percentage of people will care, and it is that small group which will carry on this knowledge. Bemoaning that the "youngsters" don't bother is like complaining that most people don't bother learning Old English--there are some people who do learn it, presumably because they find it interesting, and those are the people that everyone else relies on for their occasional Old-English-reading needs.