[_9omd]

I think this type of course should come very early in a CS program. Yes, many students learn these things on their own, but many don’t, and it’s a good idea to put them on equal footing.

Being able to efficiently use common software tools allows students to learn more effectively in other courses, so a class like this provides a leverage to the other classes. Yes a lot of CS is theory, but it’s pretty hard to learn about that without having a solid grasp of the tools.

[markusde]

Agreed. At my undergraduate we didn't have an equivalent, and a common complaint amongst the TA's was how little concrete devops skills the students had. One of my friends TAing a second year course even went so far as to say almost all of his time in office hours was (watching students fail to do, and then) showing students the basics.