As a self taught programmer, I fully agree with you. Forcing myself to work through CLRS was the most important thing I did on my way towards where I am. What

As a self taught programmer, I fully agree with you. Forcing myself to work through CLRS was the most important thing I did on my way towards where I am. What you said isn't condescending at all. If you are a self taught programmer and you haven't read up and gotten a good handle on big O notation, data structures, and algorithms, do yourself a favor and start.