8. The method of claim 1 wherein the received regular expression is associated with a target data set against which the regular expression will be applied to identify patterns within the target data set that match a pattern defined by the regular expression, and the optimization is performed at least partially based upon knowledge of the target data set.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising: selecting a preferred alternative data set when practical; and transforming the received regular expression into a form that is appropriate for the selected alternative data set.