--- title: ongoing by Tim Bray · Regexp Lessons | daily.dev description: Tim Bray shares lessons learned while implementing `+` and `*` regexp features in Quamina, his open-source pattern-matching library. Key takeaways include:... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ongoing-by-tim-bray-regexp-lessons-3rm3jg6w8 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: ongoing by Tim Bray · Regexp Lessons | daily.dev og:description: Tim Bray shares lessons learned while implementing `+` and `*` regexp features in Quamina, his open-source pattern-matching library. Key takeaways include:... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ongoing-by-tim-bray-regexp-lessons-3rm3jg6w8 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3Rm3JG6W8.png og:image:alt: ongoing by Tim Bray · Regexp Lessons og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # ongoing by Tim Bray · Regexp Lessons **[ongoing by Tim Bray](https://daily.dev/sources/tbray)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Tim Bray shares lessons learned while implementing `+` and `*` regexp features in Quamina, his open-source pattern-matching library. Key takeaways include: using sample-driven development with 992 pre-existing test cases, decomposing regexp features into incremental deliverables, consulting Thompson's Construction (and Russ Cox's writeup) before rolling your own, a pragmatic 'list crushing' technique to avoid O(2^N) state explosion in NFA traversal, and honest reflection on a benchmark where merging 13K wildcard patterns still underperforms. The post also previews remaining unimplemented features like `{lo,hi}`, Unicode property matchers, and complementary character classes, and closes with personal reflections on coding in later life. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#golang](https://daily.dev/tags/golang) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ongoing-by-tim-bray-regexp-lessons-3rm3jg6w8) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"ongoing by Tim Bray · Regexp Lessons","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ongoing-by-tim-bray-regexp-lessons-3rm3jg6w8","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ongoing-by-tim-bray-regexp-lessons-3rm3jg6w8"},"datePublished":"2026-03-31T12:27:50.299Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T12:37:24.383Z","description":"Tim Bray shares lessons learned while implementing `+` and `*` regexp features in Quamina, his open-source pattern-matching library. Key takeaways include:...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--HRgLpUt6--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2003","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--HRgLpUt6--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2003","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"ongoing by Tim Bray","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ongoing by Tim Bray","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/logos/placeholder.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tbray"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ongoing-by-tim-bray-regexp-lessons-3rm3jg6w8","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"golang","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ongoing by Tim Bray","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tbray"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"ongoing by Tim Bray · Regexp Lessons"}]} ```