Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail From: Michael Torrie Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: Regular expressions Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:33:50 -0700 Lines: 28 Message-ID: References: <662g3blobme52hfoududj27err185v2npm@4ax.com> <20151102204237.6a78abdf@bigbox.christie.dr> <0cb3abb6-ec1e-4357-ab0f-b018d0c688fa@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de qW/grosH/VdvuRBoQqBtxgR2VX+hN+aT4xQ85QlyTMGg== Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.009 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.98; '*S*': 0.00; 'indeed,': 0.09; 'learn,': 0.09; 'meaningful': 0.09; "they've": 0.09; 'python': 0.10; 'python.': 0.11; 'itself.': 0.11; 'appropriate': 0.14; 'from:addr:torriem': 0.16; 'from:name:michael torrie': 0.16; 'python."': 0.16; 'received:io': 0.16; 'received:psf.io': 0.16; 'subject:Regular': 0.16; 'subject:expressions': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.16; 'community,': 0.18; 'language': 0.19; 'people,': 0.20; 'header:In-Reply-To:1': 0.24; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.26; 'regular': 0.29; 'bad.': 0.29; 'sure,': 0.29; 'certainly': 0.30; 'posts': 0.30; "i'd": 0.31; 'especially': 0.32; "who's": 0.32; 'point': 0.33; 'problem': 0.33; 'michael': 0.33; "i'll": 0.33; 'message-id:@gmail.com': 0.34; 'languages': 0.34; 'list': 0.34; 'fail': 0.35; 'quite': 0.35; 'problem.': 0.35; 'sometimes': 0.35; 'but': 0.36; 'too': 0.36; 'there': 0.36; 'heard': 0.36; 'to:addr :python-list': 0.36; 'pm,': 0.36; 'subject:: ': 0.37; 'really': 0.37; 'two': 0.37; 'being': 0.37; 'say': 0.37; 'received:org': 0.37; 'anything': 0.38; 'several': 0.38; 'received:192': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.40; 'some': 0.40; 'charset:windows-1252': 0.62; 'course': 0.62; 'python-list': 0.66; "they'd": 0.84; 'lately,': 0.91; 'notion': 0.91 X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at torriefamily.org User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0 In-Reply-To: <0cb3abb6-ec1e-4357-ab0f-b018d0c688fa@googlegroups.com> X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20+ Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:98131 On 11/02/2015 09:23 PM, rurpy--- via Python-list wrote: > On 11/02/2015 08:51 PM, Michael Torrie wrote: >> [...] >> Indeed, sometimes Jamie Zawinski's is often quite appropriate: >> >> Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use >> regular expressions." Now they have two problems. > > Or its sometimes heard paraphrase: > Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use > Python." Now they have two problems > The point being it's a cute and memorable aphorism but not very meaningful > because it can be applied to anything one wishes to denigrate. > > Of course there are people who misuse regexes. But I am quite sure, > especially in the Python community, there are just as many who fail to > use them when they are appropriate which is just as bad. Judging by a few posts on the list lately, I'd say it is highly relevant to Python itself. Too many people have only a vague notion of a problem they'd like to solve and although they don't really understand the problem, they've heard Python is a good language to learn, so they ask how they can solve that problem with Python. Now, this certainly can work for a person who's already experienced in several languages and who already understands the problem. For others, it's very much now two intractable problems.