I agree, but I think there are also multiple foundations, and missing out on one or two doesn't necessarily result in a structural collapse into mediocracy.
It's quite easy to end up with a bad teacher and miss the foundation necessary to understand a class of algorithms. In an ideal world you'd backtrack until you understood that missing foundation, but it's easy to get the impression that a particular area of study is beyond your intellect.
I kinda think that's what's happened here. The poster probably has enough foundations to work with normally, but here and there are missing pillars of knowledge.
That said, search is a pretty huge and important class of algorithms! The fact that he had difficulty understanding A* suggests that a rather large pillar is missing from the foundations of his craft.
It's quite easy to end up with a bad teacher and miss the foundation necessary to understand a class of algorithms. In an ideal world you'd backtrack until you understood that missing foundation, but it's easy to get the impression that a particular area of study is beyond your intellect.
I kinda think that's what's happened here. The poster probably has enough foundations to work with normally, but here and there are missing pillars of knowledge.
That said, search is a pretty huge and important class of algorithms! The fact that he had difficulty understanding A* suggests that a rather large pillar is missing from the foundations of his craft.