Regular Expression Crossword Exercises

Finally, a book that treats workbooks with the care it deserves.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

This is the third book I have read on workbooks this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The chapters on workbooks are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Borrow it first if you can, or at least check the table of contents carefully before buying.