> Also, you're MUCH more likely to encounter a regular expression in real code than a context free grammar. In 15 years of professional programming I probably d

> Also, you're MUCH more likely to encounter a regular expression in real code than a context free grammar. In 15 years of professional programming I probably dealt with regexes on a weekly or monthly basis, but had to write or modify a grammar exactly zero times. It does help to be more familiar with regexes and regular languages. This massively depends on what you’re doing. I’ve been programming for 30+ years, 16 of them professionally and not gone near regular expressions beyond a general knowledge of their existence and uses. Mind you the same is also true of context free grammars which is something I dimly remember learning about at university.