PEP 305 - CSV File API

[Jack Diederich]

> 
> Implementing CSV correctly and generally involves getting a lot of
> little details like that right.  And if you code it in pure Python,
> by the time you handle all those cases, you get pretty poor performance.
> 
> So it's better to code it in C and put it in the library once and for all.

Check CPAN for how the perl modules do it.
IIRC they are configurable and thurough.  If you don't mind your module
being under the same license you can just port the perl or C (if it is
implemented in C, probably not)

-jackdied