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Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 20:10:07 +0200
From: Georg Bauhaus <bauhaus@futureapps.de>
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Subject: Re: Data table text I/O package?
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Date: 2005-06-16T20:10:26+02:00
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Marius Amado Alves wrote:
> 
> On 16 Jun 2005, at 15:01, Georg Bauhaus wrote:
> 
> [a lot on data formats]
> 
> Georg, there was an example earlier (tabs simulated by 3 spaces here):
> 
> Gene ID   p-value   Expression-level   Description   Human cromosome
> GE29031   0.04539   245.45             Cyclin-B1     17

I did notice this example.

> So it's "really" atomic. Your arguments are valid, but do not apply to 
> this case.

That's hard to tell from this example. There is no TAB
inside the values, oK, but that doesn't make data atomic in an
application sense -- only the application knows.

And this is precisely a point of a well designed XML format: you have
a chance of naming the beginning and end of a value. It is up to the
designer of the document type to choose a suitable level of detail for
marking up the structure (and type) of both values and collections of
values. (Elements with attributes, subtrees of the document, using
domain specific notation in text.)

And let us hope that the text pipeline will leave the Tab
characters alone :-)

Georg