I guess you could consider this a noob question. I'd like to get into this and more low level stuff in general.

Background:

I'm an applied math guy that works in cv, image processing, and anywhere that stats & optimization can be used. Work has recently led to learning more distributed stuff, albeit simply wiring up zeroMQ with c++ or python and getting the concurrent dances right.

Is it safe to say that Microcorruption is sort of a pre-req to this? Should I muck around in there first for a bit or sign right up for starfighter? Thanks.