At that point why not use TSV?
Commas are too common, we should go with semicolons. And \n and UTF-8 by default. And a header that defines changes from defaults, plus metadata such as data logger model and settings. These are some significant quality-of-life improvements but I’d guess it will take another file extension before that happens.
blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world 9 months ago
barsoap@lemm.ee 9 months ago
ASCII 0x1f, unit separator and 0x1e, record separator. There’s also 0x1d group separator and 0x1c file separator.
Both CSV and TSV have been a mistake from the start it’s not like they’d be suitable for binary data anyway and not using ASCII control codes specifically made for in-band messaging of record fields means they ate into the printable characters (and yes \n and \t are printable, they move the print head that’s a printing action).
If you want binary compatibility either use bencode or throw ASN.1 at it. The important thing is to have a simple enough data model, don’t try to save code in the base compatibility version, evaluate the whole sheet before export if you have to. Using sqlite as interchange format is a bit hacky, but honestly defensible especially with the code (which kinda is the spec) being public domain.
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 9 months ago
I just don’t like that CSV exists as a format and has no standards currently. If you remove commas from CSV then you’re taking the C out of CSV.
mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 9 months ago
SCSV (semicolon separated values) at least sounds like an upgrade to CSV. Or maybe just use something that is flexible but is standard like JSON?
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 9 months ago
Yeah, SCSV would work, with a .ssv file extension for FAT compatibility.
JSON is overkill, tabular data is often recorded by 8-bit devices. Yes, you can use a dishwasher to cook salmon, but building a dishwasher is difficult and it can break in many more places. Each piece of salmon also needs to be carefully wrapped.
mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Yeah, I get what you mean. I’m so overprotective of my dishwasher I actually pre-scrub plates very quickly so not to clog the dishwasher (which is pretty similar to sanitizing inputs for putting them in a database I guess). 😊 It’s still much faster than doing the dishes by hands.
But the point is something simple can run on a simple device with minimal supervision.