[drcomputer]

> I would not contend that mastery of the more theoretical topics is a prerequisite to becoming a good programmer. There’s abundant evidence to the contrary. But it is a necessary step in absorbing the culture of computer science.

I personally don't care about my feelings about the culture of computer science. I care about computer science, and I think you have to participate in all of the worlds, to achieve a mature understanding of the computer and it's role in society. When I can separate my mathematical and logical mind from my emotional mind, I can focus enough to do work. When my emotional mind ramps up because I'm (rather unscientifically) comparing myself to a very selectively observational evaluation of the value of the achievements of others, I am not sure what gets done aside from the passage of time.