I disagree: That approach might work if either a) you are a genius or b) the problem is simple so background knowledge wont make a difference c) or you have loa

I disagree: That approach might work if either a) you are a genius or b) the problem is simple so background knowledge wont make a difference c) or you have loads of time to go back from all dead ends you'll get yourself into. The kernel code is complicated. Learning C and some CS concepts before diving in will save you a lot of time and headaches. What you could do is learning C and CS while trying to understand some bits and bytes of the kernel, but for that I guess you would need someone else to guide you