XML Considered Harmful

[Eli the Bearded]

In comp.lang.python, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've heard of JSON, but never done anything with it.

You probably have used it inadvertantly on a regular basis over the
past few years. Websites live on it.

> How does CSV handle hierarchical data? For instance, I have
> generators[1], each of which has a name, a fuel and one or more
> incremental heat rate curves. Each fuel has a name, UOM, heat content,
> and price. Each incremental cost curve has a name, and a series of
> ordered pairs (representing a piecewise linear curve).
> 
> Can CSV files model this sort of situation?

Can a string of ones and zeros encode the sounds of Bach, the images
of his sheet music, the details to reproduce his bust in melted plastic
extruded from nozzle under the control of machines?

Yes, CSV files can model that. But it would not be my first choice of
data format. (Neither would JSON.) I'd probably use XML.

I rather suspect that all (many) of those genomes that end up in
Microsoft Excel files get there via a CSV export from a command line
tool. Once you can model life in CSV, everything seems possible.

> [1] The kind made of tons of iron and copper, filled with oil, and
> rotating at 1800 rpm.

Those are rather hard to model in CSV, too, but I'm sure it could be
done.

Elijah
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for bonus round, use punched holes in paper to encode the ones and zeros