I‘m wondering why CSV isn’t replaced with JSON.

"Millionen Fliegen können nicht irren." (1)

CSV is so widely used to connect systems you don't even have dreamed of, it won't go away any soon. If all parties agree on a common subset of CSV (i.e. they define away the evil edge cases Text::CSV cares about), a CSV parser is trivial to implement in many systems. A fully featured JSON parser is much harder, plus it may generate unexpected data structures. Assume your CSV-replacement JSON is defined as an array of arrays. What if your CSV-replacement-JSON parser is suddenly fed an array of hashes, or an AoAoA? What if array elements are not simple scalars? Plus, JSON requires some interpunction (e.g. for keys) that is optional in CSV, so the JSON files might get bigger.

Alexander

(1) Did you know that electronic delivery notes for blood products are specified as floppy disks containing CSV files? See for yourself: https://dgti.de/docs/doclink/10158/Lieferscheindiskette_Version2_2.doc (MS Word Format, german). And yes, this format is still in use, still on floppy disks, but also via e-mail. I know at least 10 different systems implemented in at least five different languages that use exactly this format, at least in Germany and Austria. Every change in the format requires changing ALL of that systems, followed by a complete verification of the systems. No one wants to pay for that, so changes are rare, even if the format sucks.

--
Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)

In reply to Re^6: Complex file manipulation challenge by afoken
in thread Complex file manipulation challenge by jdporter

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