(This is a repetition of my replies to your thread on Twitter).
My goal was not to prove that super-linear behavior is possible, but rather to understand questions like:
1. How common are such regexes in practice? (~10%)
2. Do developers know it? (<50%)
3. Do they use specialized regex engines like RE2 or HyperScan? (Not often)
These are not theoretical advances. But I believe that my work improved our understanding of practice, and that it will let us ground future decisions in large-scale data instead of opinion.
Are there other regex questions you think are worth a look? I'm all ears!
I apologize if my treatment of HyperScan was offensive to you. My understanding from surveys is that developers typically use the regex engine built into their programming languages. I therefore focused on those engines, not on standalones like RE2 and HyperScan.
Once RE2 and HyperScan reach widespread use (I hope my research moves folks in that direction!), understanding their weaknesses will be an interesting next step.
My goal was not to prove that super-linear behavior is possible, but rather to understand questions like:
1. How common are such regexes in practice? (~10%)
2. Do developers know it? (<50%)
3. Do they use specialized regex engines like RE2 or HyperScan? (Not often)
These are not theoretical advances. But I believe that my work improved our understanding of practice, and that it will let us ground future decisions in large-scale data instead of opinion.
Are there other regex questions you think are worth a look? I'm all ears!
I apologize if my treatment of HyperScan was offensive to you. My understanding from surveys is that developers typically use the regex engine built into their programming languages. I therefore focused on those engines, not on standalones like RE2 and HyperScan.
Once RE2 and HyperScan reach widespread use (I hope my research moves folks in that direction!), understanding their weaknesses will be an interesting next step.