Agree with the last sentence. All the different data structures for example. Where do they come from? Presumably because in doing some practical tasks we realize it would be a lot more efficient if we organize data that way. To acquire proficiency with those concepts by seeing a genuine need for them in the task at hand imo follows a much more logical order of introduction.
I learned almost all the basis for what I do on a day-to-day practice of being a programmer from:
- my high school programming classes - my grad school practice of learning how to research and read - a bunch of middle school classes in formal logic - playing with a ton of programming tasks
The CS stuff that I've read in the decade since quitting the pursuit of a PhD in literature has been way less helpful than simply trying to fix bugs in my code.
I don't know if my career is representative of other folks' work, but at my "level" I consider programming to be a lucrative trade, and much of the CS stuff is almost totally irrelevant to that, compared to having awareness of the specific of whatever larger system I am trying to diagnose or modify.
I agree that the basis for this profession can be taught in a couple of classes; I feel that almost all of what I do comes down to playing with the actual technology and trying to solve problems with it; theory is only useful after you have a fundamental feel for the nature of the problems at hand.