2023-05-07

Spent the better half of the day re-reading and learning the most influential ../Regex 正規表式 book, Mastering Regular Expressions, 3e, 2006 by Jeffrey Friedl. I gained new insights about lookarounds and atomic grouping (something I never thought I'd grasp before). Friedl has a knack for conversational didacticism. I had marked up at various times half of the 1st edition of the book 1999-2006. Finding that edition and leafing through the highlighter and pen markings was an instant slide down the memory lane.

The treatment and first mention (with examples) of lookarounds was improved in e3. I will definitely not go back to e1 and e2 except to reminisce.

Comparison makes one see the truth strengths in all things and people. I recently thought Jan Goyvaerts was the foremost teacher in regex, but after reading his treatment in two books (and on regular-expressions.info, whose content is largely replicated in his All About Regular Expressions book, I think) of advanced topics of lookarounds, atomic group, and conditionals, I have to still give Friedl the nod for being the best. RexEgg sums up two great books by Friedl and Goyvaerts nicely.