Do theoretical computer science topics have “real world” development applications?

Question

By \"theoretical computer science topics\", I am referring to things such as regular vs non-regular languages, the pumping lemma, and grammars.

I\'m familiar with the re

Answer 1

These things are useful if you want to know whether trying to do something is futile with regular expressions. For example, knowing that XML is non-regular is useful if the idea to parse XML with regex ever enters your mind. And if you don't know off the top of your head that XML is non-regular, the pumping lemma will let you prove it trivially.

And then there's compilers, where if you don't know this stuff, you're doomed. It just depends on the application.