From: "Brian Schröder" <ruby@...>
Date: 2004-11-18T21:11:00+09:00
Subject: Re: About Regular Expressions

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:34:54 +0900
Nikolai Weibull <mailing-lists.ruby-talk@rawuncut.elitemail.org> wrote:

> Lately there have been a bunch of posts on this list about regular
> expressions in Ruby and people seem to cry wolf whenever they don't get
> them quite right.  By crying wolf here I mean that they suspect a bug.
> That's most often the same as blaming core-dumps on the operating
> system.  It's time that people try to reason about what they've actually
> written and look at the documentation (which may be too limited?) before
> complaining here.
> 
> I am not suggesting that these question stop entirely, but I request
> that they be well thought out before.  Still, there seems to be a need
> for a FAQ or similar, covering regular expression basics and common
> pitfalls - perhaps even including common idioms and uses in Ruby.
> 
> I don't have time for this myself at the moment, so is anyone else up
> for the task?
> 	nikolai
> 
> 
> --
> ::: name: Nikolai Weibull    :: aliases: pcp / lone-star / aka :::
> ::: born: Chicago, IL USA    :: loc atm: Gothenburg, Sweden    :::
> ::: page: www.pcppopper.org  :: fun atm: gf,lps,ruby,lisp,war3 :::
> main(){printf(&linux["\021%six\012\0"],(linux)["have"]+"fun"-97);}
> 

There are lots of regexp tutorials on the web. To me it does not seem reasonable to duplicate this effort. Just do a quick google for regular expression and you get a dozen hits.

http://www.regular-expressions.info/ is a good introductory text. The only thing missing on this site is a reference to ruby. Maybe if enough people bug him about it, he will include it ;). I already asked him to include ruby in the list of languages that support regexps.

It is true that sometimes people are too easily blame the bugs onto others, but what I like here in this newsgroup, is that even if your asking a dumb question you normally get a helpfull pointer a polite tone.

In fact you are also giving constructive critic here, but as I read the first part of your eMail I felt it a little rough. Requesting that people try to think is correct, but one should also accept that sometimes there exist weird knots in the head that can more easily be cut together with other people than alone.

best regards,

Brian


PS: Your homepage is broken. (And it uses php ;) (Just like some of mine do, I have to admit ;)

-- 
Brian Schr�der
http://ruby.brian-schroeder.de/