I think there are many computer science students on HN. They have been taught the standard but complicated Regex -> NFA -> DFA -> Minimal DFA construction in school. Generating almost optimal DFA's directly from regex by simple pattern matching on the structure of the regex may appeal to these students.
Anyway, I personally get much more out of technical articles than "fluff" philosophizing articles.
I think there are many computer science students on HN. They have been taught the standard but complicated Regex -> NFA -> DFA -> Minimal DFA construction in school. Generating almost optimal DFA's directly from regex by simple pattern matching on the structure of the regex may appeal to these students.
Anyway, I personally get much more out of technical articles than "fluff" philosophizing articles.