I mean, yeah? I guess they could make more clear that their perspective is as theoretical computer scientists.

I don't think their aim is to dissuade people from running approximate optimization against np. At least that was certainly never my takeaway, but maybe some courses/lecturers don't make that clear enough.

If your larger point is that comp sci cares too much about theory for the average programmer, sure. Maybe there should be a different degree program for software "engineering". But I think that's true of most degrees. Maybe comp sci is special because it's treated as a science whereas most people take it to be engineers. But coming from physics as just an example, the majority of people become engineers or something else not-professional-physics. But I sure as hell hope they don't go less proof-heavy in physics courses because many people will never never be able to prove something again in their lives.