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Why did CSV ever happen? Using printable characters as separators is really silly. Using multiple characters (like CRLF) is silly. ASCII actually contains four
by cup-of-tea 9y ago
Why did CSV ever happen? Using printable characters as separators is really silly. Using multiple characters (like CRLF) is silly. ASCII actually contains four control characters for this purpose: file, group, record and unit separator. I'm sure a lot of problems would be solved if people just used these.
- onion2k 9y agoFile formats like CSV are frequently typed out by hand in an editor. Using a non-printable character would make that harder than necessary in most situations.
- jstimpfle 9y agoTo be pedantic, CR and LF are non-printable. It would be nice if FS and RS had also simple to reach keys on the keyboard.
- cup-of-tea 9y agoExactly. The "proper" record separator (CRLF) is not available on the keyboard on UNIX systems (well, half of it is). If people are typing it out by hand (which I doubt, actually) there are many keys on standard keyboard which could be used for the various separators (like the F keys).
- jstimpfle 9y agoI don't don't know if CRLF is "the proper record separator". If any, that's probably RS (ASCII 30). Btw. in the Unix terminal you can type any ASCII 1-26 by pressing Ctrl+[a-z], and for the remaining 0 and 27-31 there are other combinations. It's just not as convenient as pressing a single key.
- cup-of-tea 9y agoFor CSV it is.