> The moment you have a .o file it's not a C++ program anymore, but a platform-specific object file. You aren't learning C++ but windows / mac / linux's native binary production toolchain.

Then that is at least part of the learning curve of seriously using C++ so I think as of today it's (potentially) dangerous to start with only interpreted code and wait to be introduced to compiling, build tools, etc. They should be taught together. I also think it's not the greatest environment - and I hope it changes, perhaps projects like this will help!