On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 4:25 PM, A.J. Rossini <blindglobe@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 2:50 AM, Faré <fahree@gmail.com> wrote:
I'd like to invite you to join me in this effort. Whichever libraries you use or maintain, please partake in this consolidation effort.
As discussed, am looking at the data importers ((text)-file or system to CL array, i.e. the prototypical CSV to CL-array importer), and would be happy to work with others who want to take a lead on this topic (I'm aware of 5-6 blog posts over the past few years to review as part of due diligence, and 5+ different systems which range from simple importers to a bit more sophisticated state machine parsers...)
I eventually need something like a unified version of R's foreign package (unified with the other data importer and exporter packages), but of course, need to start somewhere, and somewhere is with CSV, TSV, and similiar delimiter-separated-values (DSV).
Speaking of CSV, a few years back I reviewed the existing offering and beefed up my fare-csv library which was lagging behind so it was better than all other available CSV libraries (at the time): fare-csv can be configured to be compliant with at least two conflicting CSV standards, and more, and by default follows the more relaxed "Creativyst" specification. I haven't followed recent developments, but there as in other cases, someone who actually develops or uses these libraries should drive a consolidation. —♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it for himself. — attributed to Galileo Galilei