A lot of PL research is about better patterns of programming, covering new ways of abstracting patterns that you encounter in a real codebase. Two of the most beloved courses at NU, Prof. Robby Findler’s courses on Compilers and Programming Languages, are built on that principle: they are basically programming seminars, with very little formal introduction to the concepts they cover - instead letting them reveal themselves through the assignments. Indeed, a compiler isn’t built the way it is because the concept of a ‘compiler’ is written in natural law - it’s a revealed way of handling the complexity that comes with all the forms the grammar of the language can express itself.