> But if you want to really understand computer programming, starting at machine code or at least assembly isn't a crazy way to start.

I've long suspected that the CS field was founded on two approaches: The people who started from EE and worked their way up, and the people who started from Math and worked their way down. The former people think assembly is the "real" way to approach software, and probably view C++ as "very high-level", whereas the latter people think everyone should start with a course on the lambda calculus and type systems and gradually ease into Haskell, work down to Lisp, and then maybe deign to learn Python for *shudder* numerical work.