Gifts for a computer science student
Buying for a computer science student is a different problem from buying for a working developer, and the difference is that they have not picked a side yet. A professional has a stack they identify with; a second-year has whatever the module list handed them. That makes language allegiance a bad bet and coursework a good one — buy for what they are being taught, not for what you hope they end up liking.
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Eat Sleep Code Repeat
The safest thing on this list. It presumes nothing about their stack, which matters enormously for someone who genuinely does not have one yet, and it survives them changing direction entirely.
C++ Logo
C++ is still the backbone of most serious CS curricula — data structures, systems, graphics. If they are at a traditional department they have almost certainly suffered through it.
JavaScript Logo
Whatever the syllabus says, they are building something in JavaScript. The yellow square is also the most recognisable programming logo there is, so it works as a gift to a non-technical person's technical child.
C# Logo
Common in universities with a Microsoft-shaped teaching stack, and in game development courses because of Unity. Worth checking whether their degree leans this way before buying.
Kotlin Logo
The Android development answer. If they have taken a mobile module in the last few years it was almost certainly Kotlin rather than Java, and this is a more current pick than a Java logo.
Swift Logo
For the iOS side of the same question. The orange swift in flight is also simply the best-drawn language mark on this list, which counts for something with someone still forming their taste.
Scala Logo
A deeper cut, for a student who has been bitten by functional programming and will not shut up about it. You will know if this applies.
Buy for the syllabus, not the stack
The instinct is to buy for what you think they should be into. Resist it. A second-year who has just discovered Rust may well be writing enterprise Java in eighteen months, and the gift ages badly either way.
The module list is public information at most universities, and it is a far better guide than guessing.
The budget reality
Students are the one audience where price genuinely matters, and where a shirt is a more useful gift than it is for a working developer with a wardrobe full of conference freebies. They do not have the conference freebies yet.
What not to buy
Anything that jokes about being bad at the job — imposter syndrome merch, “it compiles, ship it”, that genre. Working developers find it funny because they know they are competent. Someone eighteen months into learning does not have that safety net yet, and it reads differently.