I was at UW around the time they were thinking of introducing this. I recall someone saying they'd found that there was a gap between the students who had comp

I was at UW around the time they were thinking of introducing this. I recall someone saying they'd found that there was a gap between the students who had computer experience and those that didn't -- the latter could be equally smart but lacking in the dumb stuff like how to operate git and it would end up impacting their ability to learn the profound topics. I recall that opinions like yours were the opposition to it, but it looks like it ended up happening, and I think it's a good idea. In principle a motivated person with no previous access to computers ought to be able to study computer science as well as someone who grew up with them.