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The problem isn't really that it's difficult to solve. It's because it's impossible. There is no real formal spec. The RFC does not specify edge cases and nobod
by yoz-y 6y ago
The problem isn't really that it's difficult to solve. It's because it's impossible. There is no real formal spec. The RFC does not specify edge cases and nobody respects it anyways. "Generic" CSV parser is a pipe dream, don't try to do it.
Now, if you define your own set of rules on what is and is not allowed then it's fine.
- Brian_K_White 6y agoIndeed it's a perfect example to illustrate the difference and the importance of an under-defined spec and a well defined one. Whatever you don't define, will be undefined. But you still somehow have to do something definite without a definition. The customer expects predictable output at the end, and until we have not only clairvoyance, but clairvoyance that can be built in a machine, you can't have predictable output without either predictable input, or a spec that actually provides an answer for any input.