> ... or you can skip talking about your favorite framework and point to theory like logic, computational complexity, data structures, lambda calculus, relational algebra, and other stuff that actually matters. He already took the first step, which is playing around with some programming.
Yes, exactly, that was my first thought too. I'd add things like microprocessor architecture (like the von Neumann architecture, the cache hierarchy and how memory is structured), Turing-completeness and Turing Machines (which probably fit into your "computational complexity category"), programming language design and implementation (including things like parsing and grammars), and concepts like object-oriented and functional programming.
For example, a lot of programmers struggle with C, until they read about computer/processor architectures and realize how the processor accesses memory.
Yes, exactly, that was my first thought too. I'd add things like microprocessor architecture (like the von Neumann architecture, the cache hierarchy and how memory is structured), Turing-completeness and Turing Machines (which probably fit into your "computational complexity category"), programming language design and implementation (including things like parsing and grammars), and concepts like object-oriented and functional programming.
For example, a lot of programmers struggle with C, until they read about computer/processor architectures and realize how the processor accesses memory.