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Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants: 24 Puzzles Solved by the Author, with and Without Assistance from Copilot, Chatgpt and More
by David Mertz
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Paperback
$39.99
Groundbreaking large language model research from OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and others have transformed expectations of machine-generated software. But how do these AI assistants, like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, measure up against regular expressions--a workhorse technology for developers used to describe, find, and manipulate patterns in text. Regular expressions are compact, complex, and subtle. Will AI assistants handle the challenge? About the book
Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants is the perfect starting point for programmers of any experience level who want to understand the capabilities--and the limitations--of these exciting new tools. Author David Mertz presents 24 challenging regex puzzles, their traditional human-made solutions, and the fascinating answers given by popular AI assistants. Alongside these eye-opening puzzles you'll learn how to write prompts, integrate AI-generated coding suggestions, and interact with the assistant to get the results you want. By the end of the book, you'll have a clear understanding of where AI assistants can reliably write code for you and where you'll still need a human touch. Plus, you'll learn a lot about regular expressions! About the reader
Code examples use simple Python and Regular Expressions. No experience with AI coding tools required. About the author
David Mertz is the founder of KDM Training and an acclaimed contributor to the Python community. He is also the author of The Puzzling Quirks of Regular Expressions, Cleaning Data for Effective Data Science: Doing the Other 80% of the Work, and other books. Table of Contents
1 The map and the territory
2 Quantifiers and special sub-patterns
3 Pitfalls and sand in the gears
4 Creating functions using regex
5 Easy, difficult, and impossible tasks
6 Conclusions
Appendix A: Learning to use regular expressions
Groundbreaking large language model research from OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and others have transformed expectations of machine-generated software. But how do these AI assistants, like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, measure up against regular expressions--a workhorse technology for developers used to describe, find, and manipulate patterns in text. Regular expressions are compact, complex, and subtle. Will AI assistants handle the challenge? About the book
Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants is the perfect starting point for programmers of any experience level who want to understand the capabilities--and the limitations--of these exciting new tools. Author David Mertz presents 24 challenging regex puzzles, their traditional human-made solutions, and the fascinating answers given by popular AI assistants. Alongside these eye-opening puzzles you'll learn how to write prompts, integrate AI-generated coding suggestions, and interact with the assistant to get the results you want. By the end of the book, you'll have a clear understanding of where AI assistants can reliably write code for you and where you'll still need a human touch. Plus, you'll learn a lot about regular expressions! About the reader
Code examples use simple Python and Regular Expressions. No experience with AI coding tools required. About the author
David Mertz is the founder of KDM Training and an acclaimed contributor to the Python community. He is also the author of The Puzzling Quirks of Regular Expressions, Cleaning Data for Effective Data Science: Doing the Other 80% of the Work, and other books. Table of Contents
1 The map and the territory
2 Quantifiers and special sub-patterns
3 Pitfalls and sand in the gears
4 Creating functions using regex
5 Easy, difficult, and impossible tasks
6 Conclusions
Appendix A: Learning to use regular expressions
Paperback
$39.99