My BS in CS took its roots down to CMOS composition of logic gates and basic EE, on the hardware side, and down to deriving numbers and arithmetic from Boolean logic / predicate calculus, on the philosophy side. Then tied those up together through the theoretical underpinnings of computation and problem solving, like a trunk, and branched back out into the various mainstream technologies that derived from all that. It obviously all depends on the program at the school of choice, I suppose, and I'm sure it's evolved over the years, but it still seems important to have at least some courses that pull back the wizard's curtain to ensure their students really see how it's all just an increasingly elaborate, high-tech version of conceptually simple (in function) machinery carrying out fundamental building blocks of logic.

Anyway, I'm going to go sniff my own cinnamon roll scented farts while gazing in the mirror, now.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

We did the same thing, going so far as to "build" a simple imaginary CPU. It was interesting but ultimately dead knowledge.

I built an emulator for that CPU, which the university course took over and used for a few years for the course. But after that I never did anything with logic gates or anything like that.

I got into DIY electronics lateron as a hobby, but even then I never used logic gates and instead just slapped a cheap microcontroller on to handle all my logic needs.

I do use transistors sometimes e.g. for amplification, but we didn't learn anything about that in university.

In the end it feels like learning how to theoretically mine sand when studying to become an architect. Interesting, but also ultimately pointless.