[chousuke]

I found it a bit puzzling too. Does someone actually bother memorizing iptables syntax? Sure, if you use it daily for a long time, some of it will stick, but it seems completely pointless to waste time explicitly learning it.

I find it's better to save my brain power for learning things like what I need to take into account when configuring a database for example, or what variables affect network performance and what options I have for tuning, etc.

When I reach for tools to solve problems, the most I usually remember is "I can use X to solve this class of problems" and the how is available from the manual or with a Google search.

[Aloha]

I'm sure someone does - I mean I have a friend whom I can hand a network diagram with specified cisco devices, and he can write cisco configs by hand, from memory - whereas me, I struggle to recall any of the regex I learned the last time I needed regex.

[afturner]

oh for real fuck regex. I need to just sit down for an hour and learn it, but I never do :( it's like Vim..

[zrobotics]

Eh, is there a point in memorizing it if you don't use it enough? The best way to learn something is repeated practice, so while I use regex enough to not need to look things up normally, I need a quick refresh anytime I need to do anything in matplotlib. There are people who are fluent with the library, but I don't have any more than basic syntax memorized since it's maybe once per year that I need it.

Although if you really do need to learn regex, I highly recommend https://regexone.com At least for me, the way it was taught Wes super-helpful in retaining the syntax knowledge.

[nurettin]

I don't even remember when or why I learned it. Was it 10 years ago? 15? 20? Was it the xkcd.com/208 ? Was it curiosity? All I know is I've been using it ever since and solved so many problems with it and yes, there are places where finding the right expression becomes a problem in itself, but online regex testers largely solve that problem by letting you visually test your regex. (see rubular, pythex)

People have huge reservations about parsing non-regular languages (like xml) with regular expressions because xml could have an attribute with a string with another xml in it or something, but the whole point is moot because regex is mainly used for partial matches and the possibility of having a string inside the html that could match whatever you are looking for is minuscule and will probably show up in tests anyway.

[Aloha]

if you design your regex for the XML you're using it on, this shouldnt be an issue - I use it frequently to mung config files as needed for work stuff - we use XML or XML like files for all sorts of stuff.