Theory and practice where too diverged, i.e. the lecturer didn't explain much about the practical part, you were on your own.

I took cs143 at Stanford (so not the online version) and found it incredibly satisfying and enriching. Not only did I gain an understanding of well compilers, but programming languages, parsers, and real, applied uses of CS theory.

Would highly recommend it if this sort of thing interests you.

"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like."

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Would you be able to write a small compiler for a small toy programming language after completion?

Would you mind sharing a link to the course? Thanks in advance!