> If you control the entirety of the pipeline, the format you're using is basically irrelevant. I think you are missing the point -- you only need to know abou

> If you control the entirety of the pipeline, the format you're using is basically irrelevant. I think you are missing the point -- you only need to know about generator to know about format. Since the parent poster was talking embedded, here is one example: a data logger with tiny embedded records tuples: (elapsed-time, voltage, current). You need this to be readable in the widest variety of programs possible. What format do you use? I think the answer is pretty clear: CSV. It is compatible with every programming language and spreadsheet out there, and in a pinch, you can even open it in text editor and manually examine the data. Using something like XLSX here would be total craziness: it will make code significantly bigger, and it will severely decrease compatibility.