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Thats cute, but why wouldn't something like your favorite database's XML import get you were you want to go without the rust. Presumably that is after all wher
by StillBored 6y ago
Thats cute, but why wouldn't something like your favorite database's XML import get you were you want to go without the rust.
Presumably that is after all where this data actually comes from. The state has it all in some ancient database, and they opened it up by using the "dump to xml" option.
Your favorite database probably has utf8/16 column and/or conversion functions too.
- jstrong 6y agomy guess is it would take me a lot longer to finagle the database to do what I want, but that's me.
- hyperman1 6y agoI assume it depends on what knowledge you have. If you know your DB tooling and have basic XML and ETL experience, StillBored is probably right. If you have to look it all up but write software every day, a custom program is probably faster to get right. You might still want to invest in DB/XML/ETL knowledge if more of this kind of questions come up.
- muststopmyths 6y agoyeah, the source ftp site has a DB schema description right at the top level. You could set up a table to import data into. Then export it out in whatever format you want, or query it however. If the schema changes from one month to another it would be far easier to just update the DB table schema for the next import than change parsing code. Everything can be solved with code, but not everything should be. Interesting as a coding exercise and perhaps that's the point of the article. Not the way I'd do it if I wanted a stable process for consuming the data regularly.