I don’t typically propogate memes but, for some reason, I did this time. So, without further ado, here’s the meme.
The Instructions
- Grab the nearest book.
- Open the book to page 123.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
- Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
Mastering Regular Expressions was Mine
Amazingly, I happen to actually be on page 123 in one of the books I’m reading, which happens to be right next to my computer on my desk right now, which happens to be Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey Friedl. Here are the fifth, sixth, and seventh sentences:
- Sun’s Java regex package supports set operations within character classes.
- For example, you can match all non-vowel English letters with “[a-z] minus [aeiou]”.
- The nomenclature for this may seem a bit odd a first—it’s written as
[[a-z]&&[^aeiou]], and read aloud as “this and not that.”
By the way, did you notice the typo? Yes, it was actually in the book. I pick up on so many errors like that all the time that I’m always considering becoming an editor.
Update (added 9:02 PM): Okay, enough people have asked me about this, unable to find the error in one of the sentences above, that I figure it’s time I let the cat out of the bag. If you really want to know where it is, here’s the answer.
and now in English. Please!
Nick Moscovitz
9 Mar 05 at 3:59 PM
Not only you waste your time with that – you made ME waste my time trying to figure this thing out. Boooo.
Nick Moscovitz
9 Mar 05 at 4:07 PM
In English: Java supports a really cool feature for regular expressions that makes it very easy to specify logical operations on a certain set of characters to make matching easier. In other words: Keep doing your point-and-click stuff, Dad, and let me handle the code.
Meitar
9 Mar 05 at 5:29 PM
The meat of this entry is at the bottom, where I talk about the typo. Don’t waste your time with silly things like memes, they’re not worth the effort. That said, I happen to think this particular entry could be beneficial to someone searching for information on regular expressions in Java, aside from the fact that it got me to continue reading that excellent book!
Meitar
9 Mar 05 at 5:32 PM
Hey! I make a living pointing and clicking… I wish I could make the money you will make with coding…
Nick Moscovitz
9 Mar 05 at 6:10 PM
Now you got me going… Where the @#%&* is the %&^#@ typo?
Nick Moscovitz
9 Mar 05 at 6:12 PM
The typo: In the third sentence, immediately before the em-dash (“—”) is the text “this may seem a bit odd a first.” The second “a” should read at. Oops! ;)
By the way, nobody out of the five people who’ve asked me about this have been able to spot this mistake.
Meitar
9 Mar 05 at 9:00 PM
I found it. I was considering being a copy editor as well, for a while. You should read some of the publicity pamphlets my Mum gets from Japanese fishing companies. It’s atrocious.
Also, hi! I’m backreading, because I’m still awake. Oops.
Sara
24 Apr 05 at 4:00 AM