There is a similar question going around, but it just got the same old answers that people always give about Regex syntax, but that’s not the point here, so please try to not knee jerk the same old answers about regex syntax. Try to be a little more original and personal about it this time.
Regex syntax is very VERY compact, almost too compact to be good. Its like code-golfing, and everyone agrees code-golfing isn’t a good thing in production code. However most people accept regex syntax, which seems… contradictory to say the least.
So now some common defenses one is likely to hear include :
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Answer: It’s compact
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Counter: Haven’t we all agreed in this day and age that code should be literate and a variable like ‘client’ is better than ‘c’?
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Answer: It’s a ‘domain specific language’
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Counter: how about all the very easy to understand, non compact, non cryptic and dare I say pretty domain languages out there like SQL or LINQ?
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Answer: Its easy to understand once you know it.
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Counter: Most great languages are easy to understand even if you’ve never used them before. For example anyone could jump into Python very easily even if they had never seen it before. And why do people defend Regex when its such a hard language to look at, but then go on and complain about Lisps parenthesis?
Ok now everyone try to be original and honest here, don’t just pull out the same old rote answers programmers used 20 years ago to design regex. Unless you really believe they are valid propositions in this day and age.
Edit: For the record, I know Regex from years ago, use them frequently even today and might even grok them. However I suddenly had a feeling it was perhaps time to reconsider things I had taken as ‘truths’ about regex, and look at them from a modern standpoint. Mostly because questioning principles is necessary for further development, and because so many newcomers complain vehemently about them, they can’t just be flat out right, so I decided to try to step into the shoes of a newcomer and consider what are some good points against regex.
As for being subjective, I don’t think this is less subjective OR less programmer related than Programmer Jokes of the days stuff. On the contrary it is very programmer related.
As for argumentative, thats the point of the question. To get good arguments pro and con regex outdated syntax, that can serve newcomers to actually understand more about why regex are what they are, and even better hopefully get some newcomer to come up with a better solution US old minded can’t see because we are blinded by the ‘coolness’ of regex.
Quote:
The Perl 5.10 documentation for regexes has melted down into a heap of unreadable drivel because so many zany features have creeped into the syntax that no-one can write sensible documentation for it any more.
You’re trying to say regex have become unmaintainable? Well then as good programmers should we consider refactoring them? Maybe cleaning up and trying over as we’ve done with some many other technologies?
Most of what I have to say were addressed by Adam and DGM, but I don’t think they cover your second point very well.
‘how about all the very easy to understand, non compact, non cryptic and dare I say pretty domain languages out there like SQL or LINQ?’
I think a good way to express an answer to this is to ask, how would you use English to explain a regular expression?
Look for ‘<TAG’ a word boundary zero or more of something that is not ‘>’ followed by a ‘>’ remember zero or more of something, stopping at the first ‘</TAG>’
This is a fairly simple regex. Is the English form really easier to understand? Could you do better?
Regular expressions are hard to read, but what you want from them can be just as hard to explain.