And we used to say prototype in C++ and then re-implement in C to make it fast in production.
The math and the algorithms are important - but one shouldn't dismiss a fundamental understanding of the lower levels of the system - even though they'll change over time and you probably won't have to "go there". Real-world software runs on real-world systems, and there is no reason for a budding computer scientist to deprive himself of at least a cursory understanding of how things work underneath - you never know when he'll want to break out of the toolset Vendor X provides him and do something radical and new (like implement something in hardware, or recognizing there is some feature there he can use to massive real-world benefit)
The math and the algorithms are important - but one shouldn't dismiss a fundamental understanding of the lower levels of the system - even though they'll change over time and you probably won't have to "go there". Real-world software runs on real-world systems, and there is no reason for a budding computer scientist to deprive himself of at least a cursory understanding of how things work underneath - you never know when he'll want to break out of the toolset Vendor X provides him and do something radical and new (like implement something in hardware, or recognizing there is some feature there he can use to massive real-world benefit)