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

Here's Steve Yegge's take about the usefulness of compilers, summed up as:

In fact, Compiler Construction is, in my own humble and probably embarrassingly wrong opinion, the second most important CS class you can take in an undergraduate computer science program.

Grammars are essential to parsing recursive structures, which appear in programming languages, natural languages, and complex data structures. I believe some programmers do not meet them at all, but the persons who write compilers, IDEs, serialization etc. meet them a lot.