Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Regular expression examples

Regular expression examples

Contested prod. This article currently offers nothing that isn't found on a thousand other simple regex tutorials and help files. If users feel the (currently Perl-specific) content is helpful, it can be moved to Wikibooks. Nominating per WP:NOT#GUIDE: Wikipedia is an encyclopedic reference, not an instruction manual, guidebook or textbook. Monger (talk) 02:15, 3 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The problem with this deletion rationale is that the general audience reader (the target audience of all Wikimedia projects) has no clue what a Regular Expression even is. On that basis alone, the rationale for inclusion is pretty clear, we need to provide unfamiliar readers with some kind of context and a foundation.

For clarity, I will outline the specific problems with this deletion proposal:

quick summary for why this article belongs here

This article currently offers nothing that isn't found on a thousand ... tutorials

That's a good thing, it means that it's consistent with WP:V and WP:RS. If there's any content within Wikipedia that cannot be found elswhere, then it shouldn't be in an article in the first place.

That was not the basis of my nominating the article for deletion. Rather, it was meant to imply that external regex syntax guides and examples can be linked to from the main regular expression article (and already are). Also, I'm not sure that the policy and content guideline you cited are relevant here. You verify a regular expression example by running it. Monger (talk) 21:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If users feel the (currently Perl-specific) content is helpful it can be moved to Wikibooks

That's a good course of action if you wish to expand the content into a full-blown book on how to program regular expressions in perl (or other languages as well), but that has nothing to do with whether this specific article on Wikipedia should be deleted.

Again, there are many topics within Wikipedia that are covered in more detail in Wikibooks and elsewhere. The question is not whether content is duplicated, the question is whether the content is appropriate on the basis of the material alone.

This again is not related to why I nominated the article for deletion. I simply mentioned it as a way to easily preserve the content for those who think it's useful. Monger (talk) 21:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is an encyclopedic reference, not an instruction manual, guidebook or textbook

Although correct, this point really does not apply to this article. Please take a close re-look at the content and notice that there is not a single sentence in the article that tells readers "how to". It's just a bunch of examples and explanations to help people understand the concepts and principles explained in the "regular expression" article.

Eh? What is example code if not a demonstration of "how to"? In any case, the current content is not even really based around examples. It is a (currently Perl-specific) regex syntax guide, with a basic example of using each construct that is introduced. Monger (talk) 21:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The use of examples in Wikipedia articles is a well-established and respected convention. Please see just for a quick example: Wikipedia:Make technical articles accessible Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(command-line_examples).

That's a straw man. I never argued against the use of examples in the main regular expression article. In fact, it already contains heaps of examples, which are generally quite relevant and useful. Monger (talk) 21:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Finally, the rationale for having a separate article for this is also pretty straightforward. The Regular Expression article itself was getting very cluttered and crowded with examples, and this separation provided a good way to organize the content. In other words this was a stylistic and editorial decision that really had nothing to do with helping people "learn" how to program regular expressions. dr.ef.tymac (talk) 16:45, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I strongly disagree. In fact, examples of all of the types of constructs shown on the regular expression examples page are already found in the main regular expression article -- quantifiers, grouping, character classes, zero-width assertions, etc. IMO, this article currently offers two things: an extremely basic Perl regex syntax guide, and a bunch of Perl sample code that is better suited to an article on Perl than regular expressions. Plus, as mentioned in the nomination, according to WP:NOT Wikipedia is not a manual, guidebook, or textbook. Monger (talk) 21:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You're repeating yourself now. Unless you've something new to add, please feel free remain in your state of disagreement. Please also feel free to re-read the article and the point about Perl syntax being common to more languages than just Perl. All of your other (repeated) points have been directly addressed above. Cheers. dr.ef.tymac (talk) 02:21, 5 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]