Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants: 24 Puzzles Solved by the Author, with and Without Assistance from Copilot, Chatgpt and More (Paperback)

Learn how AI-assisted coding using ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot can dramatically increase your productivity (and fun) writing regular expressions and other programs.

Regular Expression Puzzles and AI Coding Assistants is the story of two competitors. On one side is David Mertz, an expert programmer and the author of the Web's most popular Regex tutorial. On the other are the AI powerhouse coding assistants, GitHub Copilot and OpenAI ChatGPT.

Here's how the contest works: David invents 24 Regex problems he calls puzzles and shows you how to tackle each one. When he's done, he has Copilot and ChatGPT work the same puzzles. What they produce intrigues him. Which side is likelier to get it right? Which will write simple and elegant code? Which makes smarter use of lesser known Regex library features? Read the book to find out.

David also offers AI best practices, showing how smart prompts return better results. By the end, you'll be a master at solving your own Regex puzzles, whether you use AI or not.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

About the technology
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.

學習如何使用 ChatGPT 和 GitHub Copilot 的 AI 輔助編碼，可以大幅提高您撰寫正則表達式和其他程式的生產力（和樂趣）。

《正則表達式謎題和 AI 編碼助手》是兩個競爭者的故事。一方是 David Mertz，一位專業的程式設計師，也是網絡上最受歡迎的正則表達式教程的作者。另一方則是 AI 強大的編碼助手，GitHub Copilot 和 OpenAI ChatGPT。

比賽的方式如下：David 提出了 24 個他稱之為謎題的正則表達式問題，並向您展示如何解決每個問題。當他完成後，他讓 Copilot 和 ChatGPT 解決相同的謎題。他們所產生的結果讓他感到好奇。哪一方更有可能答對？哪一方能寫出簡單而優雅的程式碼？哪一方更聰明地使用較少人知的正則表達式庫功能？閱讀本書以找到答案。

David 還提供了 AI 最佳實踐，展示了智能提示如何獲得更好的結果。到最後，無論您是否使用 AI，您都將成為解決自己正則表達式謎題的大師。

購買印刷版書籍將包含 Manning Publications 提供的 PDF、Kindle 和 ePub 格式的免費電子書。

關於技術
OpenAI、Google、Amazon 等的突破性大型語言模型研究改變了對機器生成軟體的期望。但是，像 ChatGPT 和 GitHub Copilot 這樣的 AI 助手在描述、查找和操作文本中的模式方面，與正則表達式這樣的開發者常用技術相比如何？正則表達式簡潔、複雜且微妙。AI 助手能否應對這一挑戰？

關於本書
《正則表達式謎題和 AI 編碼助手》是任何經驗水平的程式設計師理解這些令人興奮的新工具的能力和限制的完美起點。作者 David Mertz 提出了 24 個具有挑戰性的正則表達式謎題，以及它們傳統的人工解決方案和受歡迎的 AI 助手給出的迷人答案。在這些令人驚奇的謎題旁邊，您將學習如何撰寫提示、整合 AI 生成的編碼建議，並與助手互動以獲得您想要的結果。通過閱讀本書，您將清楚了解 AI 助手在為您編寫程式碼方面的可靠性，以及仍然需要人為操作的地方。此外，您還將學到很多關於正則表達式的知識！

關於讀者
程式碼示例使用簡單的 Python 和正則表達式。無需使用 AI 編碼工具的經驗。

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.

關於作者
David Mertz 是 KDM Training 的創辦人，也是 Python 社群中受讚譽的貢獻者。他還是《The Puzzling Quirks of Regular Expressions》、《Cleaning Data for Effective Data Science: Doing the Other 80% of the Work》等書的作者。

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

1 地圖與領域
2 量詞和特殊子模式
3 陷阱和齒輪中的沙子
4 使用正則表達式創建函數
5 簡單、困難和不可能的任務
6 結論
附錄A：學習使用正則表達式