That's a very nice way of putting it. I too feel a lot more confident about an entire class of problems thanks to HTDP. The only problem I have with the book is that the generative recursion stuff is not as well done as the structural recursion portions, but I guess that could be because generative recursion portions are inherently more creativity requiring/difficult than the structural portions. Anyway, that portion is being revamped for 2e so I'm looking forward to relearning it.
I didn't realize it was being revamped. I had to skip some of the algorithm parts for lack of math (which I'm also studying). IME Part V was by far the hardest part of the book. I often found the language confusing and had to puzzle things out slowly that once I understood them, it seemed they could be more simply put. (Of course in order for that criticism to be useful I would have to develop it and provide details.) There seems to be a lot of value placed on abstraction, to the point that it's sometimes hard to follow. I don't know if it's just me or if it's just a result of the authors being so darn smart.
