In my experience, the huge majority of people who take an intro CS class want to learn how to solve problems with programs and to learn how other people solve p

In my experience, the huge majority of people who take an intro CS class want to learn how to solve problems with programs and to learn how other people solve problems with programs. At Stanford, almost every single undergrad takes an intro CS class but only a fraction of those go on to major in CS or get a job in software. You've got one class to provide useful information to people - teaching people about models of computation or set theory is not going to capture people's interest or help them meaningfully in the future. But if somebody says "hey, I know enough python to figure out how to split up a huge PDF into individual files, one for each page, then suddenly they are empowered to solve problems. Same reason we wait until Real Analysis to teach delta-epsilon limits while the engineers are off taking PDEs.