Regular Expressions
proposed by jonobr1
In computing, regular expressions provide a concise and flexible means for identifying strings of text of interest, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Regular expressions are written in a formal language that can be interpreted by a regular expression processor, a program that either serves as a parser generator or examines text and identifies parts that match the provided specification.
The class would teach how to read and write Regular Expressions. Possibly extend and share knowledge about regex, ie resources (online or otherwise, integration with TextMate)
- Date
- September 23, 2009 at 7:00pm
- Location
- The Public School
- Facilitator
- Chandler McWilliams
- Limit
- 15
- Fee
- $10
- Other information





Comment
maybe brysonian could would you teach this?
14 Jul 2009 12:30PM
I'd suggest that we add a requirement that "You should already be comfortable programming is at least one language" ???
I find it frustrating to take intermediate to advanced programming classes then find that the teacher spends half the time redoing "Hello World" for 1/3 of the class who's never programmed before. Nothing against learning programming, in fact I'm happy to help, but regex doesn't strike me as a 'beginner' class for programming.
If this course is designed for beginners, then perhaps it should say so and/or there might be an opportunity for an Intermediate or advanced Regex class. I suspect there are many of us who know just enough Regex to be dangerous but could benefit from having a true expert walk us through some more sophisticated Regex. If the class is really designed for people who know nothing of regex, that's fine too, but lets clarify which it's going to be.
14 Jul 2009 12:40PM
Yes i think i can. I agree that everyone would get more out of it if we specify that some programming is necessary. I can also see the class starting with a quick 15 min on how to use regex's in PHP, JS, Ruby, Python, and a text editor (like textmate, vi, etc) then get into RegEx itself. That way people who have never touched it at least have some idea where to look, and the class can then proceed with everyone using their language of choice.
14 Jul 2009 2:16PM
yeah that totally makes sense @Phil Glau. I guess I kind of assumed that you should at least be familiar with classes, arrays, and functions because regex only seems to pop up in code once you're familiar with these concepts. With that said, I am a definite beginner to regex. The amount that I know is pretty much limited to this website
http://txt2re.com/index-javascript.php3
@D.A.N what do you think the scope could be like? Fred and I were talking and it seemed it could be taught in one or two 3 hour classes. It's not as hefty as say objective-c or Open Frameworks, right? I don't know much use beyond find + replace...
thoughts?
14 Jul 2009 2:55PM
yeah i think 1 3 hour session would cover it. Most of getting good at them is experience.
(this is chandler btw)
14 Jul 2009 3:07PM
@jonobr1 Great link.
My suspicion is that you're going to get two distinct camps of people. The "I've seen it mentioned in a manual and have never tried it before." and the "I've wanted to learn conditional and backward tracking regex" types.
My personal experience with Regex is that it takes fair bit of effort to wrap your brain around Regex to even get up and running a little (simple replaces, simple matches) and it takes a lot to make it to the next step to mastering it.
Perhaps there should be an "Intro To Regex Class" and a followup "Intermediate Regex" ???
14 Jul 2009 3:19PM
Okay, so how about a series. 2 classes, one 3 hour session for the intros and a couple weeks after that have the intermediate session to go over more advanced stuff.
This gives at least some time for the beginners to catch up and decide if they want to take the second course or not. Would you be up for that Chandler or know anyone qualified?
23 Jul 2009 7:09PM
maybe this is sufficient for the beginners class?
http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/other/8-regular-expressions-you-should...
14 Aug 2009 12:34AM
hey that's a great tutorial. I think starting there and really unpacking the syntax would be a great place to start.
14 Aug 2009 1:04PM
This class has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 23rd (7-10pm). Please register by clicking on the "buy now" google checkout button on the class webpage (http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/1405).
The fee for the class is $10 and we encourage everyone to register at your earliest convenience as it really helps us in figuring out the class logistics. If you prefer to pay cash instead, you MUST post in the class thread to say that you plan to attend.
Does 7pm class starting time work for everybody? If you find it difficult to make it due to work or other obligations, let us know in the comments so we can consider pushing the class a little later (7:30?)
27 Aug 2009 11:16AM
I'll be attending as a member.
13 Sep 2009 4:27PM
I'll be there. For some reason my google account is suspended. Can I bring the 10 straight to class? Just check?
15 Sep 2009 11:49PM
Reminder: this class is scheduled for this Wednesday 7pm and will convene at our new classroom (951 Chung King road.. just half a block from the old space). It is not too late to register, just follow the google checkout button on the class webpage (http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/1405). Those of you who prefer to pay in person, please post your name in the comments section and bring cash to the class.
21 Sep 2009 9:57AM
Here's a RFC822 pattern I use:
$RFC822PAT = '
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f\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*(?:(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\x
ff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|"[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015
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)*(?:\.[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:(?:\\[^\x80-\xff]|\([^\
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0-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|"[^\\\x80-\xff\n
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\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]
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]*)*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\
\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])
*\])[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:(?:\\[^\x80-\xff]|\([^\\\x
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]*)*\))[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*(?:\.[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x
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\t]*)*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".
\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff
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80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*)*)*:[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015
()]*(?:(?:\\[^\x80-\xff]|\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:\\[^\x80-\xff][^\
\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\))[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*)?(?:[^
(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-
\037\x80-\xff])|"[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015"]*(?:\\[^\x80-\xff][^\\\x80-\xff\
n\015"]*)*")[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:(?:\\[^\x80-\xff]|
\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:\\[^\x80-\xff][^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\))
[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*(?:\.[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff
\n\015()]*(?:(?:\\[^\x80-\xff]|\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:\\[^\x80-\x
ff][^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\))[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*(
?:[^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\
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*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\
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)[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(?:(?:\\[^\x80-\xff]|\([^\\\x80-
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ff\n\015()]*)*\)[\040\t]*)*(?:\.[\040\t]*(?:\([^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]*(
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>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:".\\\[\]\000-\037\x8
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*\)[\040\t]*)*)*>)';
$RFC822PAT = preg_replace("/\n|\r|\r\n/","",$RFC822PAT);
23 Sep 2009 11:52PM