Your examples: > - "to program against a standard" instead of "to program based on a standard" both idiomatically correct enough > - "to match against a patt

Your examples: > - "to program against a standard" instead of "to program based on a standard" both idiomatically correct enough > - "to match against a pattern" instead of "to match the pattern onto the thing" the second one reads very strangely and I would not be sure what you meant, first is _very_ idiomatically correct > - "to compare against a list" instead of "to compare with items from a list" second one is a little strange in the sense of feeling like too many words > - "to file an issue against the repository" instead of "file an issue at the repository" second one feels wrong, first is correct but a little weird, "on" is probably what I would write; you can also file "with" if it is a bureaucracy, you file tax forms "with" the irs