1.3 SOME APPLICATIONS*
Although we stress the abstract and mathematical nature of formal languages and automata, it turns out that these concepts have widespread applications in computer science and are, in fact, a common theme that connects many specialty areas. In this section, we present some simple examples to give the reader some assurance that what we study here is not just a collection of abstractions, but is something that helps us understand many important, real problems.
Formal languages and grammars are used widely in connection with programming languages. In most of our programming, we work with a more or less intuitive understanding of the language in which we write. Occasionally though, when using an unfamiliar feature, we may ...
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