Ami Chopra’s Reviews > An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata: . > Status Update

The elegance of pumping lemma's proof reminded me of Harry Mairson's poetry on how difficult it is to teach theory:

"Quite often, we've found, teaching theory,
Undergrads are bored, puzzled and weary.
Sterile proofs are from Hell--
Teach us HTML!"

His counter has always stuck with me:

"But good theorems don't formally hide
The human emotion supplied
Rigor without mortis, our goal,
Is for sure a negotiable shoal"