ok. But as you say, Apple's lawyers can knock the door of anyone who uses regular expressions.
Is this true? On Wed, 2011-07-27 at 13:08 +0200, Caveat wrote: > There is no problem in your code, nor in the mail addresses you show as > examples, I was merely trying to point out a problem in the patent > system itself. > > It seems as if Apple has manged to patent the "novel idea" of > recognising stuff (phone numbers, email addresses, web urls) in data, > high-lighting it, and allowing a user to interact with it and perform > some action on it. > > As you quite rightly point out, it's not exactly a new idea to go thru a > chunk of data and pick out interesting patterns, nor to allow actions on > those recognised patterns (just look at any modern email client). > > All I wanted to do was to point out just how silly the software patents > are becoming and that more and more the bleedin' obvious is somehow > getting recognised as a valid patent... > > ...and if you were to sell your program... what would you do if Apple's > lawyers came knocking on your door asking for money? :-/ > > Kind regards, > Caveat > > On Wed, 2011-07-27 at 13:48 +0300, Demosthenes Koptsis wrote: > > sorry but i dont understand where is the patent problem. > > > > There are many regexp which "recognize data" such emails. > > So i think here is not the problem. > > See for example > > http://regexlib.com/Search.aspx?k=email&c=-1&m=-1&ps=20 > > > > > > If you mean the @yahoo.com emails this is an example. > > > > i can change it like > > us...@myexampleserver.com > > us...@myexampleserver.com > > us...@myexampleserver.com > > us...@myexampleserver.com > > > > Is it ok now? > > > > On Wed, 2011-07-27 at 12:10 +0200, Caveat wrote: > > > I hope you realise that the work you're doing may result in you > > > infringing Apple's patent: > > > > > > U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647 on a "system and method for performing an > > > action on a structure in computer-generated data" (in its complaint, > > > Apple provides examples such as the recognition of "phone numbers, > > > post-office addresses and dates" and the ability to perform "related > > > actions with that data"; one example is that "the system may receive > > > data that includes a phone number, highlight it for a user, and then, in > > > response to a user's interaction with the highlighted text, offer the > > > user the choice of making a phone call to the number") > > > > > > This brings home to me just how broken the patent system is! > > > I hope more and more of us programmers start to realise it and do > > > whatever we can to fight against it. I refused to submit anything for > > > patenting at my last employer, despite their continued efforts to bribe > > > and encourage us to patent anything and everything that could be > > > remotely considered patentable. > > > > > > If you were to make your program commercially available, and offered the > > > user the possibility to (for example) send a mail to one of the > > > addresses you identified in the textarea, you would (according to Apple) > > > by guilty of patent infringement. No matter that you've done all the > > > hard work yourself, that you haven't been near any of Apple's code for > > > doing this... > > > > > > [Sorry to interrupt with this slightly off-topic rant!] > > > > > > Kind regards, > > > Caveat > > > > > > > > > On Wed, 2011-07-27 at 10:34 +0300, Demosthenes Koptsis wrote: > > > > i used also Multiline > > > > http://gambasdoc.org/help/comp/gb.pcre/regexp/multiline?v3 > > > > > > > > and DotAll > > > > http://gambasdoc.org/help/comp/gb.pcre/regexp/dotall?v3 > > > > > > > > with this code > > > > > > > > ------------------------- > > > > ' Gambas class file > > > > > > > > Private sRegExp As Regexp > > > > > > > > Public Sub Form_Open() > > > > > > > > Me.Center > > > > > > > > End > > > > > > > > Public Sub btnMatch_Click() > > > > > > > > txtResults.Clear > > > > > > > > If IsNull(txtPattern.Text) Or IsNull(txtSubject.Text) Then Return > > > > > > > > sRegExp = New Regexp(txtSubject.Text, txtPattern.Text, 4) > > > > > > > > If sRegExp.Offset = -1 Then Return > > > > > > > > txtResults.Text = sRegExp.Text > > > > > > > > End > > > > ------------------------- > > > > > > > > 1) The Subject of RegExp is: > > > > > > > > Here is an email di...@yahoo.gr and text continues > > > > Here is an email kos...@yahoo.gr and text continues > > > > Here is an email pet...@yahoo.gr and text continues > > > > Here is an email p...@yahoo.gr and text continues > > > > > > > > 2) The Pattern i use is: > > > > (?i)\b[a-z0-9._%\-]+@[a-z0-9._%\-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}\b > > > > > > > > 3) The result is only one email: > > > > di...@yahoo.gr > > > > > > > > and not the rest of them. > > > > > > > > 4) if i convert this pattern to grep syntax in terminal, grep gives all > > > > 4 emails. i want to implement a grep like funtcion with Gambas3 > > > > > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, 2011-07-27 at 12:45 +1000, Ian Haywood wrote: > > > > > On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 8:34 AM, Bruce Bruen <bbr...@paddys-hill.net> > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > regexp only (ever) works on a line by line basis > > > > > by default yes, but: > > > > > http://gambasdoc.org/help/comp/gb.pcre/regexp/dotall > > > > > > > > > > this makes the . cover newlines, so a regexp can span multiple lines > > > > > in the string. > > > > > > > > > > Ian > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > Got Input? Slashdot Needs You. > > > > > Take our quick survey online. Come on, we don't ask for help often. > > > > > Plus, you'll get a chance to win $100 to spend on ThinkGeek. > > > > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/slashdot-survey > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > Gambas-user mailing list > > > > > Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net > > > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > Got Input? Slashdot Needs You. > > > Take our quick survey online. Come on, we don't ask for help often. > > > Plus, you'll get a chance to win $100 to spend on ThinkGeek. > > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/slashdot-survey > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Gambas-user mailing list > > > Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Got Input? Slashdot Needs You. > Take our quick survey online. Come on, we don't ask for help often. > Plus, you'll get a chance to win $100 to spend on ThinkGeek. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/slashdot-survey > _______________________________________________ > Gambas-user mailing list > Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user -- Regards, Demosthenes Koptsis. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Got Input? Slashdot Needs You. Take our quick survey online. Come on, we don't ask for help often. Plus, you'll get a chance to win $100 to spend on ThinkGeek. http://p.sf.net/sfu/slashdot-survey _______________________________________________ Gambas-user mailing list Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user