Well it seems like it's the same basic idea as both of our scripting programs... however, I can't say for sure because I have know experience with regular expressions or yacc/lex.
As for ftp, I'm pretty arhowk mentioned that he does that, and I guess I could use it if I needed to, the RobotPreferences is just a file on the CRio. But I don't see a reason to use Ftp over SD because SD is so convenient(Some teams mentioned that they weren't allowed to use SD, so in that case FTP is, obviously, preferable for changing autonomous seconds before the match starts)