Many ubuntu-*desktop* users don't need compiler, and since they were intended target audience ubuntu doesn't include it, after all if you need the compiler is it that painful to run `apt install -y build-essential`?
> ... after all if you need the compiler is it that painful to run `apt install -y build-essential`?
No, of course not. But that's when it became obvious to me that I was not the target audience for that distribution, and had switched to Gentoo shortly after.