StringTheory RegEx help finding Date in Text

[RchdR]

@Mark_Sarson

So I asked ChatGPT what was leading Claude to go down the rabbit hole.
Its response makes sense to me, and it aligns partly with how I use AI myself. I tend to work in VS Code with GitHub Copilot when dealing with Clarion code — that way the context is always available to the model, and it avoids losing track of the current file state. Of course, that comes with a monthly subscription, but the benefit is that it keeps edits consistent and avoids exactly the sort of back-and-forth drift you see in Claude’s session below.

Without getting into a flame war (appropriate description?), or too much thread drift comparing different Ai’s like its an arsenal or array of the latest weapons tech, normal Win 11 Co-Pilot aka the free one, is greatly improved, if one opens the Side Bar, and clicks on the Account circle with head and shoulders icon, then click Settings, Privacy, and then switch Personalisation and memory to On.

This way normal Co-Pilot will remember stuff from previous conversations, which helps enormously over time.

Where I’ve used it to convert enumerations, array etc from MS api doc’s (eg Service Security and Access Rights - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn ) into my own Equate naming scheme, it remembers this and then builds this into code it converts from C/C++ or other languages into Clarion.

eg

CreateMyService PROCEDURE()
SERVICE_NAME     STRING('MyClarionService')
DISPLAY_NAME     STRING('Clarion Test Service')
BINARY_PATH      STRING('C:\Path\To\YourService.exe')
SCMHandle        UNSIGNED
ServiceHandle    UNSIGNED
Result           UNSIGNED

CODE
! Open a handle to the Service Control Manager
SCMHandle = OpenSCManager(NULL, NULL, ISEQ:SCM:SC_MANAGER_CREATE_SERVICE)
IF SCMHandle = 0
  MESSAGE('Failed to open SCM: ' & GetLastError())
  RETURN
END

! Create the service
ServiceHandle = CreateService(SCMHandle, SERVICE_NAME, DISPLAY_NAME, ISEQ:SCM:SERVICE_ALL_ACCESS, ISEQ:SCM:SERVICE_WIN32_OWN_PROCESS, ISEQ:SCM:SERVICE_DEMAND_START, ISEQ:SCM:SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL, BINARY_PATH, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL)

IF ServiceHandle = 0
  Result = GetLastError()
  MESSAGE('CreateService failed: ' & Result)
  CloseServiceHandle(SCMHandle)
  RETURN
END

MESSAGE('Service created successfully!')
CloseServiceHandle(ServiceHandle)
CloseServiceHandle(SCMHandle)

ISEQ:SCM:SC_MANAGER_CREATE_SERVICE is what it remembered from a previous conversation when it remembers.

Just a simple example to hand, but quite handy if I might say so.

MS has also subtly changed their API documents, which Co-Pilot will get right, but you will get wrong if you just use the API webpages.

eg if you can find CreateServiceA function (winsvc.h) - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn
in the sidebar on this OpenSCManagerA function (winsvc.h) - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn

this

[in, optional]  LPCSTR    lpBinaryPathName,

is not optional.

Co-Pilot will always use it in examples, but the api fails if you dont use it. Its not Optional.

Just some recent changes I’ve started to notice with the MS API docs which will probably force you into using their/an Ai agent.