I would argue the opposite: Being describable in BNF is exactly the hallmark of sensible syntax in a language, and of a language easily amenable to recursive descent parsing. Wirth routinely published (E)BNF for the languages he designed.
replyThe problem with recursive descent parsers is that they don't restrict you into using simple grammars.
replyBut then, pushing regular languages theory into the curriculum, just to rush over it so you can use them for parsing is way worse.
> But then, pushing regular languages theory into the curriculum, just to rush over it so you can use them for parsing is way worse.
replyAt least in the typical curriculum of German universities, the students already know the whole theory of regular languages from their Theoretical Computer Science lectures quite well, thus in a compiler lecture, the lecturer can indeed rush over this topic because it is just a repetition.