I agree with his own summary of his own article: "[T]his idea is not inherently wrong, but does come with some caveats. As long as you keep those caveats in min

I agree with his own summary of his own article: "[T]his idea is not inherently wrong, but does come with some caveats. As long as you keep those caveats in mind, I think this can be a viable strategy for learning new and important things." If one really wants to know how the computer works, the course "Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: From Nand to Tetris" is excellent. You start with basic gates, build logic devices, build a CPU, build a computer, write an assembler, write a virtual machine, and finally write a compiler and then implement whatever game you like in it. The class, astonishingly, has no prerequisites, and has been completed by people from 10 to 80.