Regular expression puzzles and AI coding assistants : 24 puzzles solved by the author, with and without assistance from Copilot, ChatGPT and more / David Mertz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

David, Mertz, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Regular expressions (Computer science).

Artificial intelligence--Computer programs.

Artificial intelligence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (109 pages)

Edition:

[First edition].

Place of Publication:

Shelter Island, New York : Manning, [2023]

Summary:

Learn how AI-assisted coding using ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot can dramatically increase your productivity (and fun) writing regular expressions and other programs. Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants is the story of two competitors. On one side is David Mertz, an expert programmer and the author of the Web's most popular Regex tutorial. On the other are the AI powerhouse coding assistants, GitHub Copilot and OpenAI ChatGPT. Here's how the contest works: David invents 24 Regex problems he calls puzzles and shows you how to tackle each one. When he's done, he has Copilot and ChatGPT work the same puzzles. What they produce intrigues him. Which side is likelier to get it right? Which will write simple and elegant code? Which makes smarter use of lesser known Regex library features? Read the book to find out. David also offers AI best practices, showing how smart prompts return better results. By the end, you'll be a master at solving your own Regex puzzles, whether you use AI or not.

Contents:

Intro

inside front cover

Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants

Copyright

contents

front matter

preface

acknowledgments

about this book

Who should read this book

Obtaining the tools used in this book

Credits

liveBook discussion forum

about the author

about the cover illustration

1 The map and the territory

About regular expressions

Rise of the programming machines

Caveats

Intentional software development

As you read

2 Quantifiers and special sub-patterns

Puzzle 1 Wildcard scope

Author thoughts What will each pattern match?

AI thoughts CodingNet

Puzzle 2 Words and sequences

Author thoughts Think about what defines word boundaries

AI thoughts The transformator

Puzzle 3 Endpoint classes

Author thoughts Refine the regular expression to match what we want

AI thoughts Are friends electric?

Puzzle 4 A configuration format

Author thoughts Remember that shapes have edges

AI thoughts Notes from the Cyberdyne vault

Puzzle 5 The Human Genome

Author thoughts Remember the central dogma of molecular biology

AI thoughts Do androids dream of electric sheep?

3 Pitfalls and sand in the gears

Puzzle 6 Catastrophic backtracking

Author thoughts Try hard to avoid catastrophes

AI thoughts Technological singularity

Puzzle 7 Playing dominoes

Author thoughts Try to be more efficient than your first thought

AI thoughts A war with sticks and stones

Puzzle 8 Advanced dominoes

Author thoughts Thoughts about digrams are always pleasant thoughts

AI thoughts How many readers can pass the Turing Test?

Puzzle 9 Sensor art

Author thoughts Find a matching pattern, if possible

AI thoughts My mind is going

I can feel it

4 Creating functions using regexen

Puzzle 10 Reimplementing str.count().

Author thoughts How can a regex count the substring occurrences?

AI thoughts Extraordinary machine

Puzzle 11 Reimplementing str.count() (stricter)

Author thoughts Write a Python function with the restrictions given

AI thoughts The Horars of War

Puzzle 12 Finding a name for a function

Author thoughts Code is read far more often than it is written

AI thoughts There are two hard problems in computer science

Puzzle 13 Playing poker (Part 1)

Author thoughts Functions are a big help in larger programs

AI thoughts He can't read my poker face

Puzzle 14 Playing poker (Part 2)

Author thoughts Large buildings are built from small bricks

AI thoughts The society for preventing cruelty to humans

Puzzle 15 Playing poker (Part 3)

Author thoughts You better cheat, cheat, if you can't win

AI thoughts Someday machines will learn to count

Puzzle 16 Playing poker (Part 4)

Author thoughts You might risk identifying the "dead man's hand"

AI thoughts Free will is not free

Puzzle 17 Playing poker (Part 5)

Author thoughts Remember that three is more than two, but less than four

AI thoughts Counting to two

5 Easy, difficult, and impossible tasks

Puzzle 18 Identifying equal counts

Author thoughts Lateral thinking might help you find the answer

AI thoughts Hic sunt dracones

Puzzle 19 Matching before duplicate words

Author thoughts Find a pattern that will fulfill the requirement

AI thoughts Deep fakes in the Chomsky hierarchy

Puzzle 20 Testing an IPv4 address

Author thoughts Ask whether regexen are powerful enough for a problem

AI thoughts I want to be a machine

Puzzle 21 Matching a numeric sequence

Author thoughts Rule out the impossible to be left with the solution

AI thoughts Wheat and chessboards

Puzzle 22 Matching the Fibonacci sequence.

Author thoughts The Golden Spiral beautifully generalizes Fibonacci numbers

AI thoughts The fractal geometry of nature

Puzzle 23 Matching the prime numbers

Author thoughts Honor the fundamental theorem of arithmetic

AI thoughts Sense and nonsense

Puzzle 24 Matching relative prime numbers

Author thoughts Nothing is either true or false but thinking makes it so

AI thoughts Six impossible things before breakfast

6 Conclusions

Appendix. Learning to use regular expressions

What tools use regular expressions?

Matching patterns in text: The basics

Character literals

Escaped characters literals

Positional special characters

The "wildcard" character

Grouping regular expressions

Using groups for backreferences

Character classes

Complement operator

Alternation of patterns

The basic abstract quantifier

Matching patterns in text: Intermediate

More abstract quantifiers

Numeric quantifiers

Backreferences

Do not match more than you want to

Tricks for restraining matches

Tricks for restraining matches better

Comments on modification tools

A note on modification examples

A literal-string modification example

A pattern-match modification example

Modification using backreferences

Another warning on mismatching

Advanced regular expression extensions

About advanced features

Non-greedy quantifiers

Atomic grouping and possessive quantifiers

Pattern-match modifiers

Changing backreference behavior

Naming backreferences

Lookahead assertions

Lookbehind assertions

Making regular expressions more readable

index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781638351887

1638351880

9781633437814

1633437817

OCLC:

1373623486