It also doesn't "help" that a lot of these subjects are often expected to be covered in other courses, and the text targeted at students who will have related s

It also doesn't "help" that a lot of these subjects are often expected to be covered in other courses, and the text targeted at students who will have related skills fresh in mind. E.g. the first compiler course at my university back in the day would have typically come a semester or maybe two after just having taken a course in logic and boolean algebra for most people who took it.