Is anyone happy with csv module?

[massimo s.]

On 12 Dic, 00:08, "Gabriel Genellina" <gagsl-... at yahoo.com.ar> wrote:
> Note that all the above (as any operation involving a whole *column*)
> requires reading the whole file in memory. Working by rows, on the other
> hand, only requires holding ONE row at a time. For big files this is
> significant.
>
> An example of writing data given in columns:
>
>      id = [1,2,3,4]
>      name = ['Moe','Larry','Curly','Shemp']
>      hair = ['black','red',None,'black']
>      writer = csv.writer(...)
>      writer.writerows(itertools.izip(id, name, hair))
>
> I think your problem is not with the csv module, but lack of familiarity
> with the Python language itself and how to use it efficiently.

Maybe. As stated at the beginning, I am not a professional programmer.
I am a scientist using Python at work. It's years I use it and I love
it, but I surely miss many nuances.

For example, I never ever looked into itertools. I am also not so
familiar with iterators. Itertools seem fantastic, and I'll definitely
look into them, however I can't but feel it's a bit strange that
someone wanting a quick csv parsing/writing has to dig into those
apparently unrelated stuff.

> > (Btw: who is using csv to read >10**6 lines of data?)
>
> Me, and many others AFAIK. 1M lines is not so big, btw.

It's clear that I am thinking to completely different usages for CSV
than what most people in this thread. I use csv to export and import
numerical data columns to and from spreadsheets. That's why I found 1M
lines a lot. Didn't know csv had other uses, now I see more clearly
why the module is as it is.

Thanks for your tips, I've learned quite a lot.

m.