I generally agree. For me it just pissed off the people who were trying to help me. Seems like most practitioners (and this is in any industry, I think), know w

I generally agree. For me it just pissed off the people who were trying to help me. Seems like most practitioners (and this is in any industry, I think), know what to do and how to do it, but the logical "why" behind it has long since been archived. They learned it and accepted it, but don't think about it regularly. I would ask a lot of questions about language design, programming paradigms, and stylistic decisions. I read about theoretical and conceptual lessons that were difficult to directly apply to writing my own code. The part where I disagree is that beginners should stop because it's advised. Some foundation in theory can really help to frame the lessons you learn as you hack your first projects together. The understanding also helps you recognize patterns and learn some vocabulary. When you're naturally ready to say "screw the theory, let's just do it" -- that's when you'll make measurable progress.