>
You need automata theory... Turing-completeness... PDAs and FSAs... Why? I know that stuff inside and out, and across multiple jobs I have used none of it ever. What chance to use this favourite bit of my education did I miss? (Or rather, might I have missed, so that you might speak to the general case)
> You need to know how to compile a high-level language down to an RTL.
Why? Same comment as above.
> You need to understand what a fixed point is and why it matters.
Well, I don't, and I don't. I request a pointer to suitable study material, noting that googling this mostly points me to a mathematical definition which I suspect is related to, but distinct from, the definition you had in mind.
Otherwise... as I read down this thread I was all ready to disagree with you, but it turns out I'd jumped to a false conclusion, based on the SICP context of this thread. Literacy, what a pain in the butt.
In particular, the idea that ((the notion of an environment) is a fundamental/foundational concept) is a new idea to me, and immediately compelling. I did not learn this in my academic training, learned it since, and have found it be very fruitful. Likewise with lexical vs dynamic binding, actually.