[simonw]

Learning about those things isn't particularly relevant to learning how to use LLMs for NLP tasks.

Not saying they're not worth learning, but I think it's reasonable for them not to be included in the syllabus for that particular course.

Kind of like how learning memory management in C doesn't need to be a pre-requisite for a course on Python.

Note that learning about those things will likely make you a better LLM+NLP practitioner, in the same way that having a good grasp of memory management in C will help you be more effective at working with Python - but it's OK to leave them out of introductory courses.