I recommend a good grounding in formal logic for preparation to program.

I couldn't agree with you more. I've tutored first and second year computer science students. In first year we started by learning Java. Second year starts with formal logic and C and Perl. Formal logic seems to have helped everyone I've tutored. They can see why their programs don't work, and avoid many of the "logic bugs" in their programs. I think it puts programmers into a better frame of mind.