Is it at all possible that traditionally compilation is taught back to front? I am just a hobbyist, my CS degree did not include anything about compilation other than the theory of types of Grammar. I am the first to put my hand up and say I do not really know what I am talking about.

For me, compilers are interesting because of a. optimisations; at my level simple logic that is obviously advantageous to a CFG. b. interaction with the dependencies and operation of low level hardware; how does it REALLY work.

In the hobbyist pursuit of an understanding I have become belligerent to parsing. Parsing is interesting. But also not really. I would have benefited substantially from an abstract introduction via graphs, analysis and lowering. Both in terms of interest and fundamental understanding.