[agentultra]

Programming has been at times my sole obsession.

However in the long run it has been and always will be a means to an end.

I think the advice to look afield is good. Gerald Sussman seems to agree as he often looks to biology for new ideas. Ideas are not born in a vacuum after all. They need to form hunches and meet other hunches and be given time to cook. That's a number of metaphors... but I think you get where I'm going with this. I hope.

Spend time learning the fundamentals for sure but branch out as soon as you can.