Regular expression use

[Nick Maclaren]

In article <famlj0$33k$1 at mlucom4.urz.uni-halle.de>,
Mirco Wahab <wahab-mail at gmx.net> writes:
|> 
|> Using complex regular expressions is like tank destruction
|> with contact charges glued on them.  Only a few people
|> will even survive the first "usage", but survivors will
|> then eventually be able to destroy almost every tank with
|> tremendous speed and precision.

I must remember that!  It is nicely put.

|> On business software projects, maintainability is a key
|> prerequisite - after using complex regular expressions
|> on business critical parts you are bound to involve
|> very very expensive maintenance programmers ... :)

Yes :-)  Even regular expression experts have major problems
ensuring that complicated ones match everything that they need
to and nothing that they don't.  The same thing applies to
uses of the C preprocessor and many uses of Perl ....

|> What exactly did you "hear" of several "uses"?  Which
|> application? Academia, Business, ...?

Mainly academic research, but that still covers many fields.
However, I am not and never have been a 'pure' academic, and
am as interested in other uses as in academic research.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.