[Tutor] What to call a string with embedded descriptor?

[Tim Johnson]

* Emile van Sebille <emile at fenx.com> [120330 12:21]:
<....> >If the string above is split on the first occurance of '|',
> >the result is a 'leftmost' component which can be decomposed into a
> >nested list of integers which can then be used to parse the
> >'rightmost' string into a dictionary.
> >
> >What would be a generic term or a pythonist term for such a string?
> >
> 
> I've called them formatted or structured -- you could also say 
> proprietary I imagine.  I'm not aware if there's a formal name...
  Back in the day when I worked in C and did a bit of reconstructing
  proprietory database schemes in legacy systems, it was common for
  a binary file to start with a "map" which defined how to search
  the subsequent content. I never did know if there was a formal
  terminology for such a setup. I guess there isn't.

  Thanks for the reply.
-- 
Tim 
tim at tee jay forty nine dot com or akwebsoft dot com
http://www.akwebsoft.com