Heh.. I never _met_ in real life single person studying CS and being a good at programming. So what? =)) I also was studying network engineering, not CS, but I

Heh.. I never _met_ in real life single person studying CS and being a good at programming. So what? =)) I also was studying network engineering, not CS, but I still believe I am good programmer and clients willing to pay for my work only prove it more. This is regarding your aggressiveness of the last line... Now - what you are saying is basically what I meant - do not just learn (as memorizing) algo, but try to implement it yourself, or better - stuck with a problem where you have to implement algo yourself not knowing such algo already exists and described. (of course, this is not applicable when you work for a client, that's why 'fun' period is necessary =))