Why are String Formatted Queries Considered So Magical?

[Stephen Hansen]

On 7/1/10 5:11 AM, Roy Smith wrote:
> Stephen Hansen<me+list/python at ixokai.io>  wrote:
>
>> The quote does not deny the power of regular expressions; it challenges
>> widely held assumption and belief that comes from *somewhere* that they
>> are the best way to approach any problem that is text related.
>
> Well, that assumption comes from historical unix usage where traditional
> tools like awk, sed, ed, and grep, made heavy use of regex, and
> therefore people learned to become proficient at them and use them all
> the time.

Oh, I'm fully aware of the history of re's -- but its not those old hats 
and even their students and the unix geeks I'm talking about.

It's the newbies and people wandering into the language with absolutely 
no idea about the history of unix, shell scripting and such, who so 
often arrive with the idea firmly planted in their head, that I wonder 
at. Sure, there's going to be a certain amount of cross-polination from 
unix-geeks to students-of-students-of-students-of unix geeks to spread 
the idea, but it seems more pervasive for that. I just picture a 
re-vangelist camping out in high schools and colleges selling the party 
line or something :)

-- 

    ... Stephen Hansen
    ... Also: Ixokai
    ... Mail: me+list/python (AT) ixokai (DOT) io
    ... Blog: http://meh.ixokai.io/

P.S. And no, unix geeks is not a pejorative term.