Re: How to convert CSV row to Java object?
On Sun, 29 Aug 2010, markspace wrote:
Most data in a database is relational and therefore can be thought of as
forming tree structures.
I tend to think of relational and hierarchical structures as being rather
different. Are you saying this from the point of view that a table is
trivially a hierarchy, the whole being split into rows which are then
split into fields, or something else?
Serialized objects are often hierarchical. Config files frequently have
sections with variable levels of configuration per each item. I can't
think of a natural "rectangular" data format off the top of my head.
It's all embedded in some hierarchical data structure.
Any kind of data where you have a lot of items, each comprising the same
set of fields, or one of a small number of sets of fields, is tabular, and
a natural fit for CSV, as it is for a relational database. A set of users,
of customers, of products, of prices ... pretty much anywhere you'd use a
collection in code, you've got tabular data. If anything, i think a
tabular nature is more common than a tree nature.
tom
--
CRESS AND CREATIVITY GET BUSY -- Barry