I do agree that programming is very useful as a medium of exploration, a la what you said. I really like how the book Turtle Geometry approaches this. But that is really something different than what the quoted text is attempting to get at.

> I would not sell yourself short on being able to understand.

I have a master's in mathematics and have continued to take courses while working full-time. It's just that I'm more than aware of the amount of mathematics I do not know compared to an active graduate student in mathematics and above. Or maybe you meant the royal you.