Re: Why should students still study compilers?

Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> wrote or quoted:
>So I'm curious what people on this list think: **Why should a computer science
>student today take a compiler course?**


    A computer science student should be prepared for a computer
    science career at a university, so he clearly needs compiler
    construction there. But maybe he could still learn this as a
    postgrad.


    Some percentage, like 5 or 10 percent of graduates might in fact
    write or maintain compilers or interpreters at some organization.


    Others might use their knowledge to implement DSLs.


    With the new AI programming agents, the programmers do often not
    write code themselves, but they might need to supervise these tools.
    This requires knowledge in compiler construction when the project
    at hand is related to this field.


    Other students will not need this class indeed, but this can often
    only be seen in hindsight. When the student studies, it is often not
    yet known what parts of his education he will need in the future. So
    one needs to include those topics that most students will probably
    need so that later they can choose between as many career paths in
    the field as possible.

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