[barrydahlberg]

Personally I'm not that interested in the deep mathematical side of CS. To me the two biggest problems are a poor understanding of abstraction and a lack of style.

Abstraction is so much more than "Apple is a Fruit" style OOP. Objects, processes, ideas, language... a focus on abstraction from the start is one of the reasons I think the SICP videos are worth watching.

Programmers must learn to develop their own sense of style in their code. Practice writing things until they flow and feel natural. Coding is communication, to you, your team and your computer. Try not to stutter.

Keep in mind I studied in NZ and was generally a terrible academic, we are far away from anything like MIT...