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A comment on Time to retire the CSV?. Parent comment
We programmers get stuck into thinking that openness, speed, or other performance characteristics matter. But CSVs prove otherwise.
The reason why CSVs win in many situations is
1. Because they're convenient to edit.
2. Because they work in Microsoft Excel
CSVs have a myriad of issues: too many to list. But that doesn't matter, because convenience + Excel compatibility are king in practice.
To muse about other benefits is ignoring the core reason why CSV is used.
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We programmers get stuck into thinking that openness, speed, or other performance characteristics matter. But CSVs prove otherwise.
The reason why CSVs win in many situations is
1. Because they're convenient to edit.
2. Because they work in Microsoft Excel
CSVs have a myriad of issues: too many to list. But that doesn't matter, because convenience + Excel compatibility are king in practice.
To muse about other benefits is ignoring the core reason why CSV is used.