ecp/ecoop_paper.tex
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   164 report that they have found thousands of such evil regular expressions
   164 report that they have found thousands of such evil regular expressions
   165 in the JavaScript and Python ecosystems \cite{Davis18}.
   165 in the JavaScript and Python ecosystems \cite{Davis18}.
   166 
   166 
   167 This exponential blowup sometimes causes real pain in real life:
   167 This exponential blowup sometimes causes real pain in real life:
   168 for example on 20 July 2016 one evil regular expression brought the
   168 for example on 20 July 2016 one evil regular expression brought the
   169 webpage \href{http://stackexchange.com}{Stack Exchange} to its knees \cite{SE16}.
   169 webpage \href{http://stackexchange.com}{Stack Exchange} to its knees \footnote{https://stackstatus.net/post/147710624694/outage-postmortem-july-20-2016}.
   170 In this instance, a regular expression intended to just trim white
   170 In this instance, a regular expression intended to just trim white
   171 spaces from the beginning and the end of a line actually consumed
   171 spaces from the beginning and the end of a line actually consumed
   172 massive amounts of CPU-resources and because of this the web servers
   172 massive amounts of CPU-resources and because of this the web servers
   173 ground to a halt. This happened when a post with 20,000 white spaces
   173 ground to a halt. This happened when a post with 20,000 white spaces
   174 was submitted, but importantly the white spaces were neither at the
   174 was submitted, but importantly the white spaces were neither at the