Pattern-matching Training

Patter-matching is an essential skill for any professional programmer, regardless of the language used. In this two-session class, we cover the basics of pattern-matching. We use Perl to demonstrate the examples, but we also demonstrate, and include source code for, the same pattern-matching techniques using other programming languages and even text editors. Initially we invest a half-hour in teaching everyone just enough Perl to start performing pattern matches. After the first example of pattern-matching, we invest another half-hour in demonstrating how you would change the syntax slightly to perform the same pattern match in each other popular programming language: JavaScript, Java, .Net, PHP, and in the popular Eclipse IDE. We show you how to:

Learn just enough Perl to perform pattern-matching operations (1/2 hour)
Find whether a pattern exists in some text
Use special symbols to represent white space, word boundaries, digits, alphanumeric characters, etc.
Use special symbols to represent arbitrary characters
Perform the same pattern test in JavaScript, Java, .Net, PHP, and Eclipse
Search for one or more instances of an arbitrary character
Search for zero or more instances of an arbitrary character and see why this is important
Perform "lazy" matches to distinguish the shortest (i.e., first) instance of a pattern found
Memorize the instance of the pattern found, and store it in a variable
Capture an array of instances where the pattern was found, and iterate through them afterwards
Replace pattern instances in phrase with a word, whether one-time-only, or repetitively
Replace pattern instances with dynamically-built phrases incorporating the pattern instance
...and much more!

By the end of this class, you will be able to use pattern-matching to perform operations such as:

Extract email addresses from text files
Parse log files into IP addresses, dates, times, etc.
Replace HTML tags, with or without attributes, with slightly modified versions: for example, replacing <hr class="big"> with <hr id="big"> without changing other tags using the "class" attribute
Parse emails into username, company, and top-level domain: jsmith@ibm.com can be parsed into user "jsmith" at company "ibm" in the ".com" domain
Parse tab-delimited output (such as from log files or database exports to text) into arrays of words

Prerequisites:

Proficiency in at least one programming language: you must understand variables, conditionals, loops, and arrays