[Klinky]

Maybe I should have said "C novice". There are many savvy programmers who have only glanced at C/C++ code or have never touched the thing. C can be a bit of a culture shock when coming from a dynamic or managed language.

[TillE]

I don't think it's unreasonable to say that basic familiarity with C is a prerequisite to low-level graphics programming.

There's no time like the present to expand your knowledge. If you can't read C or assembly, you're missing out on quite a lot.