I think it's more that the abstract thought takes longer than 12 weeks or so to coalesce. If you start from nothing and spend a couple months cramming syntax de

I think it's more that the abstract thought takes longer than 12 weeks or so to coalesce. If you start from nothing and spend a couple months cramming syntax details into your head, there's little time to ponder the mysteries of pointers. If you have four years to get acclimated to it by seeing it used in different courses in a variety of different courses, you probably have a better chance of understanding it. Not that spending four years at college is a guarantee you understand it, plenty of people don't. But all else being equal, it's a higher probability.