this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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Programmer Humor

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^.?$|^(..+?)\1+$

Matches strings of any character repeated a non-prime number of times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vbk0TwkokM

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[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 56 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I upvoted this because I hate it.

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Whatever you do, don't get in a time machine back to 1998 and become a Unix sysadmin.

(Though we didn't have CL-PPCRE then. It's really the best thing that ever happened to regex.)

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I have to admit that using CL-PPCRE does not really help me understanding the regexp any better. But this may be because I deal with complex regexps for decades now, and I just read them.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

I was a sysadmin with some Linux usage in 1998, does that count?

[–] MalReynolds 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I upvoted you because I consider Perl write only (used to know it, now it inspires readable code as a high priority)

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Let's put it this way: You can produce unreadable code in basically any language. With Perl, it is just a bit easier.

And of course if you have the discipline of a good programmer, even your casual Perl programs should be readable. That's what differenciates a good programmer from a hacker.

[–] MalReynolds 7 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I was younger then, perhaps less disciplined, and as always, given enough work you can decompile or regenerate anything. Still, I contend, the nature of Perl, powerful as it was, lent itself to unmaintainable messes, and I'm not talking regex's, which is why it has faded, no amount of get gud withstanding.