There are two philosopies for how to teach a computer science program: theory and job preparation. I've found the more academic universities focus on teaching

There are two philosopies for how to teach a computer science program: theory and job preparation. I've found the more academic universities focus on teaching you the theory of computer science. They're not preparing you for the job market or even teaching you how to code well. You can technically learn computer science without ever coding. So in those programs, you need to use the assignments as excuses to learn how to program well and then get more experience through side projects and internships. Other universities will focus more on job training. They'll teach you how to code and how to code well. They'll give you assignments that more mimic what you might do in actual development job.