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Why should students still study compilers?

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For many years, I've regarded compiler construction as one of the most
scientific, disciplined, and algorithmic areas of computer science. There is
something wonderfully satisfying about a field in which so much can be derived
systematically rather than done by the seat of the pants.

The difficulty, at least in my experience, is that there simply aren't that
many jobs writing compilers. Occasionally I get a small job writing a
dedicated parser, but for the most part I have little opportunity to use
compiler algorithms professionally. That makes it hard to justify spending my
limited time keeping those skills fresh.

And now I wonder whether LLMs will reduce the demand for some kinds of
compiler and parser expertise even further.

So I'm curious what people on this list think: **Why should a computer science
student today take a compiler course?**

Do students take compiler courses because the techniques they learn are likely
to be useful in their careers, despite the relatively small number of jobs
involving compiler development? Or is the real value of a compiler course that
it teaches broader ways of thinking about languages, grammars,
representations, transformations, optimization, and software systems?

And has the arrival of LLMs changed your answer at all?

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Why should students still study compilers? Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> - 2026-08-24 17:44 +0000
  Re: Why should students still study compilers? ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de - 2026-08-26 16:37 +0000
  Re: Why should students still study compilers? Davide Grandi <davide.grandi@email.it> - 2026-08-29 09:31 +0200

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