Re: Comment on SPARQL 1.1 CSV Results

On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 18:57, Lee Feigenbaum <lee@thefigtrees.net> wrote:
> I agree with Greg.
>
> Given that the CSV format is purposefully simple and lossy, I think that
> unbound variables and empty strings should both be empty strings in CSV,
> which can be either ,, or ,"",

I believe the use of existing libraries argument is more salient for
parsers than for serializers (i.e. printf loops). What then is the
harm in specifying the "" distinction, which only some parsers will
distinguish?


> Lee
>
>
> On 2/5/2012 4:21 PM, Gregory Williams wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Feb 5, 2012, at 2:51 PM, Andy Seaborne wrote:
>>
>>> Rob,
>>>
>>> Thank you for catching that.  I've added text to the editor's working
>>> draft, noting the fact and requiring the quoted empty string be used (your
>>> option 2).  This text will be considered by the working group when it next
>>> reviews the document for publication.
>>>
>>> I would be grateful if you would acknowledge that your comment has been
>>> answered by sending a reply to this mailing list.
>>
>>
>> Won't Rob's suggestion of requiring empty strings to be serialized as ""
>> mean that implementations can't simply use a CSV library that decides when
>> quoting is required? My reading of the CSV RFC suggests that an empty
>> string, and "" are equivalent.
>>
>> Similarly, the document says that "if a variable is not bound, an empty
>> field is used, (e.g. ,,)" but I would hope that a quoted empty field would
>> also be acceptable (e.g. ,"",). Is that correct?
>>
>> thanks,
>> .greg
>>
>>
>>
>



-- 
-ericP
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Received on Monday, 6 February 2012 00:47:26 UTC