List of Epigraphs

Each chapter opens with an epigraph drawn from a different author. This page collects them in one place, with notes on why each was chosen.

Preface

They stared at the branch. There wasn’t just one flower

out there, there were dozens, although the frogs weren’t

able to think like this because frogs can’t count beyond

one.

They saw lots of ones.

—Terry Pratchett, Wings

Notes:

The frogs see “lots of ones” — individual problems without the bigger picture. The book teaches you to count higher: to see the patterns behind the individual redirects and rewrite rules.

Wings is the third book in the Nome Trilogy, also known as the Bromeliad, by Terry Pratchett. It tells the story of traveling far away to find home, and is one of our (Maria and me) favorite books. You should read it. It’s way better than this book. -rcb

Chapter 1: Regular Expressions

The first thing you learn in life is you’re a fool.

The last thing you learn in life is you’re the same fool.

—Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

Notes:

Regular expressions are the first thing the book teaches, and the first place every reader feels foolish. You’ll return to them throughout your career and feel the same way again.

Every summer I read Dandelion Wine. It’s a bittersweet story about growing up, and learning, and losing, and I find something new in it every time. Hope you have the same experience with this book. -rcb

Chapter 2: URL Mapping

Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes.

Sometimes they’re the same person.

—Terry Pratchett, The Truth

Notes:

Not every contribution is heroic. Some people write the documentation, maintain the maps, keep the config files clean. All skills are valuable.

I got involved in open source because I’m a writer, not a programmer. I stayed involved because that was celebrated, and because the communities can be delightful. I’m still not a programmer, although I tried to be for a few years. But this quote always reminds me that all skills are valuable. -rcb

Chapter 3: Introduction to mod_rewrite

In the high and far-off times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk.

—Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child

Notes:

Before this chapter, you had no trunk — no mod_rewrite. The Elephant’s Child got its trunk by sticking its nose where it didn’t belong and having it stretched by a crocodile. Most people learn mod_rewrite the same way.

I used to read the Just So Stories to the kids when they were little, and I did all the voices. The Elephant’s Child was always a favorite. ‘Led go! You are hurtig be!’ Consider doing the voices while reading this chapter. -rcb

Chapter 4: RewriteRule

Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, that I may wet

my brain and say something clever.

—Aristophanes (attributed)

Notes:

The moment you sit down to write your first RewriteRule and need some liquid courage to say something clever. Perhaps apocryphal, but whatevs. -rcb

Chapter 5: Rewrite Logging

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.

—John Gillespie Magee Jr., High Flight

Notes:

Rising above the chaos to see clearly — which is exactly what the rewrite log gives you.

This poem celebrates finding the beautiful amidst the ugly. It was written by a fighter pilot who died in a mid-air collision over England in 1941, at the age of 19. I learned it in high school and it’s stayed with me ever since. -rcb

Chapter 6: RewriteRule Flags

My girl came to the study

and said Help me;

I told her I had a time problem

which meant:

I would die for you but I don’t have ten minutes.

—Brenda Hillman, Time Problem

Notes:

Every flag is a choice about how to spend your processing time. [L] says stop here. [S] skips ahead. [END] says we’re done.

This poem always reminds me that our most valuable asset is our time, and we choose how to spend it. It’s always a choice, so choose wisely, and prioritize what actually matters. -rcb

Chapter 7: RewriteCond

Snore on in your front row seat

Let not my voice disturb the wordless heaven your eyes have found

—James Kirkup, To An Old Lady Asleep At A Poetry Reading

Notes:

RewriteCond checks whether anyone is paying attention before the rule fires. Sometimes the answer is no, and that’s fine — the request passes through untouched.

I won the Kenya national poetry competition reciting this one, and I think of it every time I’m on stage and see someone in the audience who isn’t quite paying attention. -rcb

Chapter 8: RewriteMap

And memories, he knew, were not glass treasures to be

kept locked within a box. They were bright ribbons to

be hung in the wind.

—Terry Brooks, The Talismans of Shannara

Notes:

RewriteMaps externalize knowledge — lookups, translations, redirects — into files and programs rather than locking them inside rewrite rules.

The Shannara books, by Terry Brooks, were what got me into reading high fantasy, and warrant re-reading regularly, although there are 33 of them, so that’s a pretty serious undertaking. -rcb

Chapter 9: Proxies and mod_rewrite

“His voice,” thought Will, “I never noticed. It’s the same color as his hair.”

—Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

Notes:

A proxy is the voice that speaks for the backend — and if it’s doing its job well, you never notice it’s not the real thing. Bradbury’s synesthesia captures that perfectly: the voice and the appearance blur together into something you accept without question.

If you haven’t read Something Wicked, you should. It’s best if you read it as a kid, and then again as an adult, but we can’t have everything. Did I mention how much I love Bradbury? -rcb

Chapter 10: Virtual hosts and mod_rewrite

When you’ve only got two ducks, they’re always in a row.

—Rich Bowen

Notes:

If you’ve only got one virtual host, you don’t need virtual hosts. The complexity of mass virtual hosting only matters once you have enough ducks to worry about their arrangement.

Also, I’m a Jeep driver. You’ve seen those Jeeps with way too many ducks on their dashboards, right? Guess how many I have. -rcb

Chapter 11: Access control with mod_rewrite

When the dragons grow too mighty

To slay with pen or sword

I grow weary of the battle

And the storm I walk toward

When all around is madness

And there’s no safe port in view

I long to turn my path homeward

To stop awhile with you

—Rush, Madrigal

Notes:

Keeping the dragons out, and knowing when to stop fighting. The whole chapter is about access control, and the closing section is about when to put the sword down and use simpler tools instead.

And of course we have to have a Rush quote. If you’re a Rush fan you know that it’s practically impossible to choose just one. (Rest well, Neil) This is one of the most beautiful of Rush’s songs, and not much known outside of the fans. It expresses the beauty of having a true friend to rest with from the struggles of the world. -rcb

Chapter 12: Conditional Configuration

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

—Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future

Notes:

The chapter where the config file stops being static and starts being programmable. To someone used to plain directives, <If> expressions and Define variables look like magic.

I met Clarke in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at ApacheCon Asia 2006. All I could think of to say to him was “Thank you for the stories.” -rcb

Chapter 13: Content Munging

On the Coast of Coromandel

Where the early pumpkins blow,

In the middle of the woods

Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.

—Edward Lear, The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo

Notes:

Whimsical nonsense for a chapter about transforming content into something new — munging things into strange and wonderful shapes.

Lear’s nonsense was another staple for reading to the kids. The Jumblies and the Pobble were also favorites. Lovely brain candy after too much seriousness in the world. -rcb

Chapter 14: Recipes

Not to know that no space of regret can make amends

for one life’s opportunity misused!

—Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Notes:

Jacob Marley’s ghost, lamenting wasted opportunity — a fitting epigraph for a chapter full of recipes to avoid common mistakes.

A Christmas Carol is another favorite book, and I read it every year too, and watch several of the movies. Patrick Stewart’s version is, of course, the best, closely followed by the Muppet one. -rcb