The Frying Pan

Cerberus

00:21

Got it!

(?(?=(^.*[^a-z](t=[0-9]+)(?!=[0-9]).*$))(\1)|(^.*$))

So I did have to use a conditional.

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus Sorry, i just saw this. Glad you figured it out.

That regex proves the rule: just looking at it, I haven't the slightest idea what it does :-)

Cerberus

Haha.

Great!

It tests for this, without consuming it: ^.*[^a-z](t=[0-9]+)(?!=[0-9]).*$

If it finds it, it matches it, "\1".

If it doesn't find it, it matches the entire input, "^.*$".

Those ^ and $ may all be superfluous.

But they don't hurt, and I can't be sure: I always forget how * works exactly, how I can predict in which direction it searches and how lazy/greedy it is.

SAJ14SAJ

00:40

No one remembers those things :-) Its part of the 10% rule.

Which regex language are you using? javascript? .NET? Java?

Cerberus

So I'm not crazy! What is this rule?

@SAJ14SAJ I don't know which language Autohotkey uses.

That is, it is its own language, but I don't know whether that counts as a Regex language.

SAJ14SAJ

Its the one I mentioned earlier today, most of us dont' use more than 10% of the features of the regex languages. It isn't so much a rule as an observation, sort of like Sturgeon's Law.

Cerberus

Ah, yes, that.

SAJ14SAJ

Autohotkey, unless the author is insane, is almost certainly passing the regexes through to the parser integrated into the library of the language it is implemented in, whatever that is.

Cerberus

The only thing is that this thingie is rather basic, I think?

in English Language & Usage, 11 mins ago, by Robusto

@Cerberus No, you do have to remember.

SAJ14SAJ

00:43

Greedy or non-greedy wildcard matching isn't basic to me.

Cerberus

No?

Robusto seemed to think so.

At least he was castigating me for forgetting it again and again.

SAJ14SAJ

I don't know who he is or what his background, experience or qualifications are. I can tell you that in 30 years in IT, I have never learned that, nor needed to know it, and yes, I do use regexes as part of my regular coding bag of tricks.

Forgetting obscure regex rules?

Cerberus

And isn't it more than just greedy v. lazy, but also the direction in which it searches in a certain situation?

SAJ14SAJ

You are already in the minority if you know how to use them at all.

I don't think the state machines are directional, nor even specify in most cases.

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ Regex in general?

SAJ14SAJ

00:44

Its a hidden imlpementation detail.

Cerberus

Hmm.

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus Sure, ja, you betcha.

Cerberus

Ah OK.

Well, the people on SE surely all use Regex.

I use ^ and $ just to be safe. They don't hurt. They might even make it faster, in theory.

Depending on the situation, no doubt.

SAJ14SAJ

One of the reasons I quit SE:

-1

A: In C#, is there any way to try multiple Regexes on string to see which one matches earlier in the string?

The RegularExpressions.Match type returned by regular expressions matching contains an Index property which indicates the position in the original string where the match was found. You can compare this from the several different regular expression results to determine the one that is the first m...

Ah, it looks like someone cleaned up about 80% of the comments... so never mind.

I was basically telling him what he wanted is mathmatically impossible, and he was arguing with me.

Another reason:

1

A: Is it possible to exploit a javascript math function that allows PEMDAS?

Eval is very dangerous as you have learned. The modern browser escape-hatch for not having to use eval client-side, the JSON object, won't serve your needs because you need to evaluate expressions, which JSON doesn't permit. On the plus side, you really only want to allow a few operators, + - /...

That place is brutal.

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ I have to admit I cannot judge the truth of your position there. But your answer no doubt deserved an up-vote.

SAJ14SAJ

00:52

Ha.. :-)

Well... let me put it this way: for SA, I am an interested and obsessive amateur. The stuff I did write about on SE, I am a professional :-)

But it doesn't matter...

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ This one I don't understand in any way at all. But, yeah, the OP is a bit annoying.

SAJ14SAJ

I ask questions there from time to time, but I don't compete with the sharks.

Cerberus

But it rather seems the young are the ones that bother you...

SAJ14SAJ

Yeah, he is like a guy here asking how to cook his whole pig over a candle, and we keep telling him he needs at least a full fire pit, or maybe an oven. But he insists on the candle.

Cerberus

You bring them food, they complain, like the sharks they are.

SAJ14SAJ

00:54

Its not the age, its the willful stupidity.

I don't deal well with stupidity.

In all the years I have managed people, my staff either loath me or love me. Guess how that breaks down?

@Cerberus Yes. Homework questions are another thing that made me stop participating there. How do these folks expect to learn. They don't even try.

Cerberus

Or perhaps it is his inability to properly communicate. He should say, OK, I understand what you're saying, and perhaps you're right, but I'm still interested in how this can be done in impractical way x if it is in any way possible, even if it is suboptimal.

SAJ14SAJ

If it can be done, it would be extraordinarily difficult, and the programming equivilent of leaving the food on the counter for three days.

But I am past that. Deep breath. Moving on.

I have found my home as a medium fish in the small SA pond :-)

Sometimes I look at English or linguistics, and decide how out of date and ignorant my knowledge is.

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ Okay, three days is a bit long...

SAJ14SAJ

I just noticed somethign wild. SO must have a huge long tail on rep. Its says my measily 1k rep puts me in the top 31% overall. That is crazy

Cerberus

Two days, I might find do.

SAJ14SAJ

00:59

Yes. but we learned earlier today, you will eat almost anything :-)

Cerberus

1k is quite a lot!

Almost!

SAJ14SAJ

I don't know, the top SO users measure their rep in the 100k units.

Of course, someone did accuse me of being the Skeet of SA, so I am probably just as annoying to folks here.

Cook anything good tonight?

I went to make dinner, had my potatoes on the griddle, then saw a spoiled spot. I was very disappointed.

Cerberus

Haha, the Skeet? John Skeet? Is he annoying? I don't know him.

SAJ14SAJ

He dominates the C# questions. has like half a million rep. He knows a lot. I think he does it because he is an author and consultant, so it helps his business, but I don't know that for sure.

Cerberus

A spoiled spot in a potato? Can't you just cut it out?

Or perhaps he is addicted.

SAJ14SAJ

01:04

These were preshredded hashbrowns from the refrigerator section of the grocery store, not from whole potatoes.

I can walk away any time I want. Really. I can.

So I wasn't sure the entire bag wasn't tainted. And the use by date was not till next week :-(

Cerberus

Hmm.

That is indeed annoying.

SAJ14SAJ

Its thundering, and grey kitty is putting her ears back.

Cerberus

If I were hungry, I'd probably throw away the spoiled bit and sniff and taste the rest.

SAJ14SAJ

Yeah, more annoying when they are out on the griddle, so you are out the butter, and in for the cleanup but don't get to eat them.

A year ago, I probably would have too.

But writing all those scary answers here has made me paranoid.

Cerberus

Haha.

I've eaten slightly spoiled food so many times in my life.

SAJ14SAJ

01:06

Why?

Cerberus

Because someone else prepared it? Because it was already spoiled in the shop and I didn't notice?

Because I thought it might still be OK despite the odd patches?

SAJ14SAJ

Ah.... I thought perhaps there was a huge Dutch food shortage and you were depserate?

Cerberus

I've eaten spoiled parmesan often enough, thinking the odd taste (like blue cheese) didn't matter. But it just doesn't taste good.

SAJ14SAJ

Eeew.

Cerberus

I mean, when you scrape off the mould, the inside looks fine. And yet it usually tastes a bit like blue cheese. At first you think it's not so bad, but then in a dish it just didn't taste good. So I stopped doing that.

SAJ14SAJ

01:08

I never had parmesan spoil. But I keep in the refrigerator, or even the freezer, against common wisdom.

Cerberus

I keep it in the fridge, but it still spoils eventually.

SAJ14SAJ

I tend to eat it faster than that.

I love parmesan.

Even at $15+/lb.

Call it 25 E / kilo.

Cerberus

I think it's slightly less here, depending on the kind and the shop.

Yes, I usually east it before it spoils, but occasionally it spoils.

SAJ14SAJ

You all are much closer to the source, too. It can be shipped overland. Or even by train.

Cerberus

Heh.

SAJ14SAJ

01:10

Strangly, I like Romano almost as much, better in some dishes. It is more... cheesy.

Cerberus

Trust me, Albert Heijn (Ahold!) will leave it lying around just until it spoils.

SAJ14SAJ

We get an imported Locateli romano which is really, really good.

Yeah, unscrupuloous Ahold :-)

Cerberus

Hmm.

I never know the difference between the various kinds. We normally have grana padano (more expensive) and reggiano.

SAJ14SAJ

I have never had grana padano. It has a decent rep, and has been advertising hard. I should try it sometime.

Locateli Romano is made from sheep's milk, so it is tangier. It goes really well with assertive pasta sauces like amatriciana, which is one of my favorites.

I guess the generic name is Pecorino Romano.

Cerberus

Ahh pecorino!

But that's no parmesan?

SAJ14SAJ

01:16

No, its different.

Cerberus

It is nice, though.

SAJ14SAJ

Pecorino is made from sheep's milk; parmesan from cows.

Yes, they are both wonderful.

Cerberus

Ah, so Locatelli is a brand name.

Grana padano and reggiano are not.

SAJ14SAJ

Yes, for pecorino romano.

Cerberus

Hmm it appears grana padano is not parmesan.

Parmigiano reggiano is.

SAJ14SAJ

01:22

Evidently not. similar, but not the same.

Cerberus

But they are much alike.

SAJ14SAJ

At least not PDO.

Cerberus

Who?

I mean, I thought they were both variants of parmesan, but apparently not.

SAJ14SAJ

Its a European thing, so I understand. Protected Designation of Origin. A regulated name.

They are a similar class of hard cheese.

Were it not for politics, maybe we would consider them similar.

Although I think the sheep/cow thing is pretty significant.

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ Oh, that silly thing.

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, very much so.

G.p. and p.r. taste much alike, although p.r. is slightly stronger, it seems; but pecorino tastes very different.

SAJ14SAJ

01:25

That is a bout right.

Gp and pr are regional variants of the same process, with slightly different traditions and regulations, it seems.

It seems like gp should be a good budget alternative to true Parmesan, especially if you can find the 2 year old variety.

But none of them are what i am told you call "regular" cheese :-)

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, absolutely. I occasionally buy the more expensive real parmesan, but in the end it doesn't matter a great deal in most dishes.

@SAJ14SAJ Certainly not! We're not Italian, ya hear?

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus I thought you were bastardized Germans :-) Thus the term Dutch :-) :-)

Cerberus

Oh, we are.

With our own, special bastard cheese.

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus And bitterballen. With gouda!

Cerberus

Those came later.

SAJ14SAJ

01:33

What cheese were you referring to?

Cerberus

I mean bitterballen came later.

SAJ14SAJ

But your culture is enriched for their existence!

We have hush puppies.

Hushpuppy

A hushpuppy (or cornbread ball) is a savory, starch-based food made from cornmeal batter that is deep fried or baked in small ball or sphere shapes, or occasionally oblong shapes. Hushpuppies are frequently served as a side dish, usually at seafood restaurants. History Native Americans were using ground corn for cooking long before European explorers arrived in the New World. Southern Native American culture (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek) is the cornerstone of Southern cuisine. From their culture came one of the main staples of the Southern diet: corn (maize), either ground int...

Cerberus

Looks nice.

But we have ragoût inside!

SAJ14SAJ

ours are basically cornbread all the way through.

they can be horrible or great, depending on how they are made.

The article is wrong, though: no decent hush puppy is baked.

Cerberus

Bitterballen are fairly uniform, and always good.

Of course there are differences, but you can't go wrong if you order them.

SAJ14SAJ

01:39

What kind of ragout?

Cerberus

Normally veal.

And I don't generally like ragoût.

SAJ14SAJ

I like pot stickers a lot, which I think is the Chinese equivalent to the bitterball... whatever its singular form is.

Cerberus

Pot stickers?

@SAJ14SAJ Bitterbal.

We don't do double consonants at the end of a word!

SAJ14SAJ

Pot stickers. Those ones look slightly over browned to my mind, but still quite tasty.

They are usually filled with a pork filling, with some cabbage and aromatics.

Cerberus

Those are dumplings, and I see no sign of a veal/beef ragoût.

SAJ14SAJ

01:47

Yes, they are a form of dumpling called a pot sticker.

And a bitterbal is arguably a deep fried dumpling.

Cerberus

Dumplings are totally different in texture!

SAJ14SAJ

And pot stickers have a meat filling, just not a ragu.

Cerberus

Ours are basically just ragoût rolled in bread crumbs or something.

SAJ14SAJ

I am just saying, they are similar in their ideas. Savory meat surrounded by brown and delicious bready stuff.

Cerberus

Ragoût is very different from minced meat or whatever they put in it. And veal is very different from pork!

@SAJ14SAJ Just, if you put it that way...

SAJ14SAJ

01:48

When I get to Amsterdam I shall have to eat many bitterballen and savor their fine points.

Cerberus

Heh.

SAJ14SAJ

I didn't say they were the same... I was extending the conversation with a related food item that I enjoy.

Cerberus

They are hardly subtle or exquise.

SAJ14SAJ

I like carribean paties too.

"exquise"?

Cerberus

French, hard to translate...exquisite?

SAJ14SAJ

01:50

We have exquisite, but no other form of that word.

Cerberus

You don't have kroketten/croquetten either, do you?

They are basically large, elongaged bitterballs.

SAJ14SAJ

Don't worry, your non-subtle bitterballen are safe from me. I won't ever come to Amsterdam.

Not as such, no.

Cerberus

Aww.

SAJ14SAJ

We have croquets.

And, for example, crab cakes or salmon cakes, which if named in french would probably be called croquettes.

I live in a state famous for its crabs and crab cakes.

Cerberus

Nice!

So they have no crust, right?

Kroketten.

SAJ14SAJ

01:52

@Cerberus Typically, no crust.

Cerberus

SAJ14SAJ

Kroketten look nearly obscene. :-) Do you have to be a legal adult to order them? :-)

Cerberus

Hehe.

SAJ14SAJ

french bitterballen?

Cerberus

Yes, they are quite obscene?

Umm that is the Dutch flag!

SAJ14SAJ

01:53

Bleu, blanc et rouge.

Cerberus

The French flag has vertical bands.

And ours is faaaar older.

SAJ14SAJ

Ah, I shall believe you then.

Cerberus

God, I'm so hungry now.

SAJ14SAJ

They look kind of tasty.

Cerberus

Don't mention bitterballen when I'm hungry!

SAJ14SAJ

01:55

Isn't it the middle of the bloody night for you.... you will have breakfast soon?

Cerberus

It's nearly 4 am.

SAJ14SAJ

I am hungry for those.

Those are Jamaican patties. Usually filled with a spicy curry. Similar to a ragu.

They tend to be much larger, though, about hand sized.

Cerberus

Ohh!

SAJ14SAJ

The dough is very short and flaky. The beef ones are the best, but the chicken ones are great too.

Cerberus

I wish I had tons good food lying around and I needed to eat more because I was too skinny.

SAJ14SAJ

01:58

Me too.

I love food far, far more than is good for me.

Cerberus

Most people do, it seems...

SAJ14SAJ

The world has tons of wonderful meat-wrapped-in-dough foods.

Cuban empanadas can be transcendent.

Cerberus

But I don't really like any of the Chinese dumplings, I think.

SAJ14SAJ

Do you like chinese flavors in general?

Or any of their major regional cuisines?

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ In my limited experience, I only liked maybe 10 % of what I tasted.

Which is admittedly not that much. Some Szechuan.

SAJ14SAJ

02:08

That may be the issue then.

Cerberus

But what I'm trying to say is that I like almost all other Asian cuisines.

SAJ14SAJ

Pot stickers are probably more mandarin.

Cerberus

I've eaten mostly Mandarin, probably.

SAJ14SAJ

Mandarin is high court food.

like you would serve to kings and emperors.

I could be wrong, maybe they are hunan. Are they could be one of those things that are just ubiquitous.

I like Thai and Burmese. I don't like a lot of Japanese, with their strange obsession with wierd vegetables and unspeakable animal parts.

Indian of course is fantastic.

My primary online kitty says I should tell you to get some sleep.

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, sure, there are many Japanese things I dislike, like mushrooms. But a casual experience with Japanese already gives me lots of food that I like. Not so with Chinese.

SAJ14SAJ

02:15

Chinese food is very pervasive here. Most of us like it well enough.

Cerberus

Same here.

Although "us" excludes me!

We took Chinese from the colonies.

Many Chinese people in the former Dutch Indies.

So most "Chinese" restaurants serve a mixture of Chinese and Indonesian food.

SAJ14SAJ

I know of the Royal Dutch East India company.

Cerberus

Yes.

SAJ14SAJ

Indonesian is quite different.

Cerberus

It is.

Do you like it?

It kind of like it.

Many good flavours.

I really like some of the dark-brown meat sauces.

And sajoer lodeh, or however you spell that.

Vegetables in coconut broth, I think.

Hmm that's the Dutch name, sayur lodeh in English.

SAJ14SAJ

10:48

@Cerberus Indonesian as a unique cuisine is not terribly common here, at least where I am. I can only recall going to an Indonesian restaurant once, and it was very good. Chinese restaurants in the US tend to be Americanized hunan/szchaun cuisine, not hybridized with Indonesian. We do have one Burmese restaurant near my house (these are not common either) that is spectacularly good; I understand this cruisine is much like a fusion of Chinese and Indonesian.

SAJ14SAJ

13:26

@Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien

Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien Mien

Hi Mien

ElendilTheTall

14:01

@SAJ14SAJ I'm sensing you want to talk to someone....

SAJ14SAJ

@ElendilTheTall She complains that I make typos in her name....

Are you settling back in after your world travels?

ElendilTheTall

just about

work backlog is clear

so I am back to my usual indolence

baked my first bread in my new oven today

SAJ14SAJ

@ElendilTheTall Oooh.. what kind of bread? How did it turn out?

ElendilTheTall

pain a l'ancienne

worked out alright, I have a photo somewhere

the top oven is normal and the bottom is fan, so I set up the top with steam at full whack and the bottom one at the lower baking temp and switched them over. Worked well

SAJ14SAJ

Those are beautiful.

You have steam injection?

Can three of you eat so many before they stale?

ElendilTheTall

14:15

I've given two to the neighbours

we had two with a baked camembert

one will be grazed upon

no steam injection, just a water pan and a skoosher of water

bottom oven was perhaps a little too hot the first time, which is why the bottom three are a little... well-fired

duly adjusted and the final two came out golden

SAJ14SAJ

Well, the rightnmost is a touch... overdone, but overall they are very pretty. I am impressed.

Perhaps you are meant to be a boulangier.

ElendilTheTall

that one was at the back by the fan, I think

some people like it that way!

SAJ14SAJ

I like my breads a little crustier than most.

ElendilTheTall

my father in law smokes a pipe, so if bread isn't well fired he doesn't taste it

the dough is a swine to work with because it's so soft, but the flavour is great

SAJ14SAJ

I hope he doesn't do it in the house!

ElendilTheTall

14:20

not our house, no

SAJ14SAJ

Do you have those little forms for the french loaves?

ElendilTheTall

no

the wavy things?

SAJ14SAJ

So just free formed? Very impressive.

ElendilTheTall

just cut a rectangle into a few strips really, and pat them into shape

the top two i gave a twist just for a bit of character

SAJ14SAJ

I was thinking of something like this:

ElendilTheTall

14:21

yeah, no don't have that

I have a nice little banneton for 1lb loaves

but that's it

SAJ14SAJ

I assume they tasted pretty good.

ElendilTheTall

14:35

@SAJ14SAJ oh yeah, it's a good recipe

long slow ferment, nice nutty flavour

well, not so much long and slow as reasonably slow but very cold

SAJ14SAJ

14:59

Makes sense

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