1. A method of optimizing a regular expression using a system comprising an authoring tool, an optimizer, and a compiler, the method comprising: receiving the regular expression in a single source-level language with the authoring tool of the system; normalizing the regular expression; responsive to normalizing the regular expression, determining at least one optimized form by the optimizer of the system in the same single source-level language for the regular expression; presenting the at least one optimized form for the regular expression to a user with the authoring tool of the system in a source-level representation in the same single source-level language; determining whether the at least one optimized form for the regular expression produces different results than the regular expression; responsive to the at least one optimized form for the regular expression producing different results than the regular expression, presenting the at least one optimized form for the regular expression to the user; and incorporating the at least one optimized form of the regular expression into application logic using the compiler.
1. A method of optimizing a regular expression using a system comprising an authoring tool, an optimizer, and a compiler, the method comprising: receiving the regular expression in a single source-level language with the authoring tool of the system; normalizing the regular expression; responsive to normalizing the regular expression, determining at least one optimized form by the optimizer of the system in the same single source-level language for the regular expression; presenting the at least one optimized form for the regular expression to a user with the authoring tool of the system in a source-level representation in the same single source-level language; determining whether the at least one optimized form for the regular expression produces different results than the regular expression; responsive to the at least one optimized form for the regular expression producing different results than the regular expression, presenting the at least one optimized form for the regular expression to the user; and incorporating the at least one optimized form of the regular expression into application logic using the compiler. 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.