Well, I started on ZX-80 at school then did a CS degree which I didn't really get at first so I struggled in the first year - but in subsequent years I came to

Well, I started on ZX-80 at school then did a CS degree which I didn't really get at first so I struggled in the first year - but in subsequent years I came to really enjoy the more abstract and maths oriented parts of the course. I don't know where the idea that a CS course is a good practical training for a career in development came from - I'm pretty glad the course I did included almost nothing that was attempting to "train" you and focused mostly on the absolute conceptual fundamentals (from the electrical engineering side through general engineering maths to specialised CS subjects) as well as letting us loose to actually build stuff with minimal supervision but careful evaluation. [The thing that really got my attention was the lambda calculus course where the lecturer mentioned the S & K combinators, of course the same course covered the Y-combinator!]