Agree that saying "intimate understanding" is a bit off the mark. Had the author written "intuitive understanding", it would have made a bit more sense. Howeve

Agree that saying "intimate understanding" is a bit off the mark. Had the author written "intuitive understanding", it would have made a bit more sense. However, given the prevalence of the von Neumann computing architecture, I don't think it's completely off the mark - even if people don't know von Neumann's name :)