On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 8:08 AM, John Walker <[email protected]> wrote:
> Well, I went a bit over the top in terms of my response. And thanks for > polite responses. Having dealt with the emotions, I'll try to be more > logical. Regular expressions may be able to do stuff, and again I > emphasize my distant acquaintanceship with it, but I dislike arcane > languages and regular expressions is nothing but You dislike arcane languages and you're on the ASSEMBLER-LIST?!? <GRIN!> > arcane. WIdely accepted, well, yes, but only in the same way that Cobol > once was, and with the same rationale. "Everyone uses it". So? That > doesn't promote anything well. It just says, 'lot's of us use it, so we > aren't going to change our minds.'. It also means the argument I give is > moot. I just greatly dislike complicated things when they don't need to > be. And rexx really does do things in a vastly simpler way than regular > expressions. I don't mean unix rexx, I mean mainframe rexx. I created > self-reprogramming interpreted rexx programs which followed logic chains > that I gave them how to reprogram themselves. And parsing > played a big part in it. And I coul never conceivably have done that > with regular expressions. So, enjoy complexity at the expense of ease of > use. > I can see your point. However, I, personally, still like regular expressions. One main reason is because I use UNIX grep a lot to scan text data. And, since I do that, I of course make sure that the information that I need is kept in textual format. One main example for me is RACF audit information rendered into text via IRRADU00. But one need also know that I think APL2 is a very good language. And don't ask me about how I can create perverse SQL select statements. I like terse, concise languages. Which is why I hate COBOL. I get writers cramp! :-} And this is not directed at you, but one reason why IT managers like "ease to use" languages is because they can be used by people who are not really good programmers. Such people are cherished by management because they are less expensive and more easily replaced. -- There is nothing more pleasant than traveling and meeting new people! Genghis Khan Maranatha! <>< John McKown
