The point is that simple exercises like that develop your algorithmic and computational thinking. You can't start out building an ecommerce site, you have to learn to program first. It's like... Karate Kid "paint the fence", it wasn't because Daniel's martial arts career was going to involve fence painting, heh. But because it developed certain skills.
It would be a problem, I guess, if people found it so boring that it deterred them from learning (I don't know what the Karate Kid analogy here is; I think miyagi MEANT to make Daniel do something boring to prove himself, which is probably not appropriate for learning to program), then more interesting exercises might be beneficial. Everyone learns differently, but when I was learning, I found exercises like that fun myself. Because I enjoyed programming, the same way some people enjoy crossword puzzles (I don't). Of course it was a long time ago, perhaps "kids these days" require more flashier puzzles, I don't know.
I'm a better programmer for having taken a 'compilers' course, but I've never written a compiler since and probably never will again (but who knows).
There's a reason "foundations of programming" are foundations. It's not because you will do those tasks again in your career. But because they will teach you concepts and methods and skills you will use forever.
Citation needed, please. Give me data. I may sound like a prick, but honestly, making such a claim without data just becomes a 'his word versus mine' situation which is anecdotal
