Programmer Humor

We did the same thing, going so far as to "build" a simple imaginary CPU. It was interesting but ultimately dead knowledge.

I built an emulator for that CPU, which the university course took over and used for a few years for the course. But after that I never did anything with logic gates or anything like that.

I got into DIY electronics lateron as a hobby, but even then I never used logic gates and instead just slapped a cheap microcontroller on to handle all my logic needs.

I do use transistors sometimes e.g. for amplification, but we didn't learn anything about that in university.

In the end it feels like learning how to theoretically mine sand when studying to become an architect. Interesting, but also ultimately pointless.