The sure fire way to become a lousy programmer is to learn programming without some domain to apply it in. Given that MIT undergrads have a fair amount of math and physics backgrounds, the exercises aren't a bad fit at all (methinks). I always find it energizing when textbooks include problems with an "oh, by the way, this is an unsolved problem in the field" note.

The good professors also appear to be carrying that tradition into the revised course ... and the most public attention goes to the switch from scheme to python.